Remembering XIV
by UmbraTsuki
Summary: This starts towards the end of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, when Riku defeats Roxas. Roxas wakes up back in the Organization, in his own room. He has completely forgotten about Xion, but starts to remember things... -** Discontinued **
1. Intro and Day 359 : Another Day Off

**"Remembering XIV"**  
Kingdom Hearts Fan Fic

**Chapter 1**  
(Only read if you've played "358/2 Days" PLEASE!!)

The rain water felt good on my face. Something good before I died.

He had left a long time ago. But who was he? He wore the organization's coat. Yet he wasn't one of us...

No, I mean one of them. I left the organization.

Why was I sill breathing? I thought he had killed me. But maybe not...

Slowly, I rose. The only question was whether or not I'd return to the organization though. I didn't belong there.

I didn't belong anywhere. Xion died by my hand. How could one who killed his best friend go on living?

That was what I thought. And then my memory started fading.

I slipped into unconsciousness.

**DAY 359** ~ Another Day Off

I woke in a white and gray room. The organization's building. I started to get up, and felt a sense that I shouldn't be there. That I was forgetting something. But what?

Ignoring the urgency, I walked out to where Saïx was so that I could get my mission for the day.

On the way, I saw Axel.

"Hey, Roxas," though he looked a bit nervous when he said it, Axel managed to keep a light tone. I wonder how we could be so cheerful without hearts..

"Hey," I replied.

"You're not mad at me or anything?"

"What?" I became confused. "Why would I be?"

"Never mind," Axel shook his head. "So how are you holding up?"

"Just fine," I responded. "I still have to get my missions for the day."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Axel said. "We have the day off, again. I was just heading back to my room for a nap."

"Oh," I again felt that sense that I was forgetting something important. But I ignored that.

"Do you want to meet up for ice cream afterward?" Axel asked. "I'll buy."

"Of course," the urgency wouldn't go away. "I'll see you later, then."

"See you," Axel turned and walked down the hallway.

I decided to go walk around in Twilight Town a bit. There was not much else for me to do.

I saw Pence there, out in front of the clock tower. He waved and I approached him to talk.

"Hi, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I replied.

"How's your friend doing?"

"You mean Axel?" I wondered why he wanted to know.

"You know, the one you were looking for underground one time," Pence said. "I think she dressed kind of like you do."

I felt like I knew, deep inside who he was talking about. That sensation of urgency had returned again, yet stronger this time. It felt like I was so close to remembering, that I only needed a little bit more…

"Hey, are you okay?"  
I probably wasn't. My head throbbed and I was seeing glimpses, flashes of memory again. It wasn't the boy in red, this time…but I didn't know who it was. Someone who wore the organization's cloak, someone I'd laughed with, had ice cream with…a female voice. But her face was…just not there. Almost…I almost remembered her name…

Yet as quickly as the memories had come, they disappeared. But I felt…emptier than I had. I instantly forgot almost all that I had remembered in that short period of time.

The only thing that I didn't forget was that there was a third person that Axel and I had talked with, up on the clock tower eating ice cream. Or rather, in my head this was more of a notion than an actual fact.

"I'm fine," I told Pence. "I have to go somewhere, now."

"Okay," Pence replied. "I'll see you later, then!"

I headed towards the clock tower.

"You're early," Axel said as he approached. I was already sitting at the top of the clock tower, waiting. "Or am I just late?"

I didn't even respond, since I was still thinking about earlier.

"Was there someone else that we did this with?" I asked.

"Did what?" Axel took a seat beside me.

"Sat up here and ate ice cream with," I replied. "Was there someone else?"

"You don't--oh. Not with us, no," Axel answered. "Why?"

"Just a thought I had earlier," I sighed.

"Here," Axel handed me an ice cream.

Sea salt ice cream was interesting. It tasted salty, but sweet at the same time. But it was just something Axel and I had always done, since I joined the organization.

"Thanks," I said.

We sat and ate ice cream; watched the sunset. I was glad that some things never changed.


	2. Day 360 : Chase

**DAY 360** ~ Chase

(Chapter 2)

That day, I had a mission in Twilight Town. Eliminate heartless. Not too hard, right?

That's what I hoped, anyway. An easy mission would be good since I had my mind on other things.

I walked over to the area of town full of stores. So far, though, I didn't see any heartless. I was beginning to wonder where they all were when a few Neoshadows appeared.

It was rare for them to show up in Twilight Town, but I didn't waste time thinking about that. I summoned my keyblade and began to fight.

The strange thing was…I felt more powerful than I had been before. I felt…different. Like I had power that wasn't mine.

But why? How would that be possible?

After the Neoshadows, some Shadow heartless appeared. I started to attack, but they fled.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Get back here!"

I ran as fast as I could in pursuit. But they were quick..

Suddenly, I had a sudden sense of Deja'vu. Similar to the sense that I was forgetting something, again.

Then some more images flashed through my mind. I was chasing someone…someone who wore the organization's cloak. Then the person took off their hood…she. It wasa she. I knew this in the memory, but again I couldn't see her face. I just knew. But who was she? Why was I chasing her? Why did she have the same cloak as the members of the organization wore?

More images came, this time not of the chase, but of eating icecream, again. That was when I realized that this was the same person that I had thought of the day before, the one Axel and I had icecream with…a best friend.

I was no longer chasing the Shadows. The images…weakened me. My head pounded again, and I kept trying to remember more.

But as they had the day before, the images left abruptly. The only thing I remembered of them, that time, was the fact that the person Axel and I ate icecream with had our same cloak. I didn't know anything else…but I began to wonder why Axel lied to me. Or did he forget about this person, just like I did?

Once I recovered, I continued with my mission. It was all that I could do.

-----

That evening, Axel wasn't even at the clock tower. I didn't know where he was, but I ate icecream by myself for the day. It felt so…lonely. Not just because he wasn't there, but because I didn't know if he was being honest with me or not. And that hurt, somehow.

Could a Nobody really feel that kind of pain?


	3. Day 365 : Extra Time::Day 366 : Thoughts

**DAY 365** ~ Extra Time

(Chapter 3)

I found out that Axel had been sent on a more important mission, one that would take longer than usual. So he wouldn't be back for a while.

I was surprised that I had been in the organization for a full year. Yet there was so much I didn't remember about it…like the days were blurred together.

My mission that day was to destroy a giant heartless in Wonderland. Surprisingly, that didn't take long…so I had a bit of free time. I decided to go to the beach. It wasn't much, but better than nothing.

No one else was there. And for some reason, I felt like…I should have been there earlier. But why? I didn't have a mission there or anything.

Then, again, some images flashed in my mind. Seashells…I had been knocked out for a long period of time, and someone had given me a seashell each day. I did the same for them. For her…

It was a her. Someone in the organization. I wondered if this was the same person Axel and I had had icecream with, but I didn't have to wonder for long. The next image was of us all in her room and Axel declaring us best friends…I still didn't see her face.

This time when the images left, I remembered the fact that this person was a girl. Someone who had been important to me.

Did Axel remember her?

----

That night more images went through my mind in a dream. When I woke up I didn't remember them, but water dripped out of my eyes. I felt like that had happened before…but when?

-----

**DAY 366** ~ Thoughts

Saïx gave me a mission in a new world that day. I was supposed to do recon with Demyx.

The world we explored was a jungle world. We found out that there are come creatures--that aren't heartless--that live there. I heard someone call them…apes?

The mission wasn't long. I went up to the clock tower afterward, even though Axel was still on his mission.

Then I started thinking about the girl…but who was she really? When did I know her?

Why didn't I remember her?


	4. Day 367 : Laughing

**DAY 367** ~ Laughing

(Chapter 4)

Axel came back. He was talking to Saïx when I woke up. But the conversation seemed…unpleasant. I wondered what it was about, but decided to ask Axel about that later.

My mission for the day was to collect emblems in Twilight Town. While doing so I got that Deja'vu feeling again. Like I'd done it before…but with someone else.

When I finished I went back in my room to write in my diary. All I wrote about was the images…the girl that I couldn't remember.

Then a thought occurred to me. What if I read over what I'd written in the past? Would that reveal some things?

I began reading from the very beginning. But…there were empty spaces. As if the words had faded.

Just like my memory.

-----

Axel made it to the clock tower first. He had a blank look on his face--but I guess that's kind of normal for a Nobody.

"Hey," I said as I took a seat beside him. "How was your mission?"

"Not too bad," Axel replied. "Took a bit longer than expected, but I'm glad to be back. How have you been?"

"Fine," I wondered if I should tell him about the girl. It seemed like such a weird thing to talk about…but then again, it was important. "I have something to ask you."

"What's that?" Axel replied.

"I've…had images going through my head sometimes. Memories..." I started, "of some girl. I forget most things as soon as the images end. But I do remember that she was our best friend. She wore our coat, too. Axel…do you know anything?"

"A girl?" Axel repeated. He shook his head and looked out to the sun set. "I don't know anything. But who knows…if you are forgetting, maybe I am, too."

"But…don't you want to remember?" I asked. "If she was that important…isn't it something that you want to know?"

Axel was quiet for a moment. "Well, right now I don't know if such a person really existed," He said. "For now, we shouldn't worry about it."

I nodded, not in complete agreement, but I knew I wouldn't get anything else.

"Ah, I forgot to ask…what was Saïx talking to you about this morning?" I wondered of I was just good at forgetting stuff, or something.

"Oh, just the usual complaining that he does," Axel laughed. "You know how he is."

Haha, right," I laughed a bit, too. It felt good to laugh, to lighten up, even for just a bit.

Even if it didn't last.


	5. Day 368 : Seashell

**DAY 368** ~ Seashell

(Chapter 5)

The images of the girl and the seashell thing appeared again in my dream. As soon as it did, I woke up and found water on my face, again. While wiping it off, something caught my eye in the corner of the room.

I walked over and picked it up. It was a seashell! But where…?

More images, memories, came up, and I knew this was one from the girl. One she had left behind when…

-----

I woke up and found myself on the floor of my room.

"What time is it…" I wondered. But when I looked at the clock, it said it was mid-afternoon.

I ran down as fast as possible to get my mission.

"You're up late," Saïx commented. "Let's hope you'll finish your mission."

I simply nodded and accepted the mission plans. That day's mission was once again in Twilight Town, to fight a giant heartless.

I found it out in front of the clock tower. It was only an Avalanche, and I managed to beat it pretty quickly.

Afterward, on my way back to the Dark Corridor, I stepped on something. Looking down, I saw that it was a…part of a seashell? It seemed to match the one I had.

Another memory flashed through my head. She…disappeared, in my arms and left only this shell…why did she disappear, though?

Most of that was forgotten after that flashback, too. I only knew that the shell had been her's in the past.

The shell that was in my possesion.

-----

"You look glum," Axel commented when he came up on the clock tower. "Did something happen?"

I sighed. Should I tell him or not? That was what I had to wonder every day. "Its the girl…the one I mentioned yesterday. I keep…  
remembering things about her."

"Huh," Axel stared down, maybe thinking about what I said. "So what do you know about her so far?"

"I know…that she was our best friend," I began. "She was in organization. We sat up here and ate icecream together, the three of us. And…I found a seashell in my room.

It was hers…I wish…I wish I could remember more."

"Well…why don't you look for answers?" Axel asked. "Saïx might know something."

"Saïx wouldn't listen to anything I'd have to say," I sighed. "He trusts you more."

"Do you want me to ask him, then?"

"If you would," I said, "That would be great."


	6. Day 370 : Searching

**DAY 370** ~ Searching

(Chapter 6)

I didn't see Axel until a couple days after our conversation on the clock tower. He caught me in the hallway that morning.

"Hey, Roxas," Axel said. "I asked Saïx about that girl.."

"What did he say??" I cut in. I didn't exactly mean to be rude, but I felt like I needed to know.

"Heh.." Axel sighed. "He said…well, he told me that he didn't know what you were talking about. But you never know with Saïx, right?"

"I guess.." I was disappointed, honestly. I really wanted to know. "Maybe I'll have to look for the answers on my own."

"No you don't," Axel replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I can help," Axel nodded. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Oh…thank you, then," I said. "I hope we can find answers…"

-----

That day's mission was to gather hearts in the Deep Jungle. I came across those ape things again, but only at a distance. I guessed that that was good, though.

After my mission, I decided to try to look for more about the girl. I went to Twilight Town--since that's where I remembered most of the stuff--and just walked around for a bit. Nothing came to me, though.

But then I thought…if she was in the organization, wouldn't she have gone to other worlds, too?

I decided to check Agrabah, first. And then, as soon as I arrived, I heard her voice.

"You look pale…" she said. I knew this was a memory…but it almost felt like the present. "You sure you're okay?" Why wouldn't I be? "Well for your information…I worry about you all the time, Roxas."

This time, the memory didn't leave. I had heard her voice so clearly, surely she had been real. She worried about me so much…why did I not remember her completely?

What had happened?

-----

Axel wasn't on the clock tower that evening. So I had icecream alone. It felt a bit…different, knowing that someone else was missing. Whoever she was…

Suddenly, more memories came back, again. Pictures. Her voice, even.

"If you see somebody else's face…a boy's face…I am almost ready." What was she saying? What…boy? I couldn't see her face in the memory…that was still not there. "This puppet will have to play her part…don't you see…why I was created." Created? What did she mean by that? She was a person, wasn't she?

The images ended, too quickly, and I slipped into unconsciousness.

-----

"Roxas!" Axel's voice. "Hey, are you okay?"

I didn't know. "What happened?" That was me asking the question…but it didn't feel like me..

"I don't know," I opened my eyes and saw Axel shrugging. "I was on my way to the clock tower and I saw you falling. I managed to uh…catch you. A little."

"A little?" Only then did I start to feel the bruises. I also noticed that we were below the clock tower.

"Well there was about a half a second's notice!" Axel exclaimed. "What else could I have done? At least you're alive. What were you doing, anyway?"

"Umm.." I couldn't remember. "I don't know."

"You don't know??" Axel shook his head. "Anyway…I did look a bit to try to find out about that girl. But I--"

"That's it!" I finally remembered. "I had been up there eating icecream…but then suddenly I got those images again. A bit different, this time, but…I heard her voice, too! She's definitely real. She was real…"

"So the images caused you to faint?" Axel repeated.

"Yeah…I guess." I wondered why the memories had such a strong effect on me. It was…weird…and why did I forget them? "We should RTC."

"I guess so," Axel opened up a portal and we went back.


	7. Day 378 : Axel

**DAY 378** ~ Axel

Over the next week I had recurring dreams…all of the memories. So I remembered a bit more. I knew that the girl had joined the organization soon after I did. I knew that

I had gone on missions with her. We even did both of our separate missions together, once. I had remembered that the first thing I heard her say was my name. I remembered that she'd kept her hood up in her first few days at the organization.

I knew that she had a keyblade.

Why couldn't I remember her name?

-----

When I woke up I went straight down to get my mission--my plan was to start earlier so I could finish earlier. It would leave me with more time to try and find more answers, to remember the girl.

That day I had to investigate Halloween Town--apparently there was another giant heartless.

When I got there, I started looking in the grave yard at first…then in the outer parts of town.

Finally, I found it. It was an Orcus. But one that was especially powerful.

While fighting it, some more memories came…of me fighting something. Or someone?

"Time to finish you off!" It sounded like…her. But why would a monster looking thing sound like that? "How's this?" The Orcus knocked me backwards at the same time that I was attacked in the memory. Then more memories came…a different battle with an Orcus.

"STOP, both of you!" That was…Axel! But what…? "This mission was a setup…rigged so you two would battle each other."

"Me and…? But…" That was my voice…who? Me and who?

"They would do that…?" It was her! The girl. So Axel…Axel did know her.

The Orcus in my present time attacked, yanking me out of the memory. I swung my keyblade with as much force as possible, to take it out. Finally, the Orcus was defeated.

Another flashback played in my mind. It was shorter…the three of us on the clock tower.

"Even if things change, we'll never be apart--" Axel.

"As long as we remember each other…right?" The girl again. Remember each other…why couldn't I?? "I'll have these moments memorized for a long time. Forever, I hope."

"Me too," That was me. Why couldn't I have known that I'd forget?? "Forever.."

"Ugh!!" I threw my keyblade down in frustration. Everything was so wrong. Just so…

"What's the matter?" a voice asked. "Why are you crying?"

I hadn't realized that the water was coming from my eyes, again…This was called crying? I stood up--I had been kneeling down--and looked at who had spoken. It was a tall, skeletal figure…one I had seen in Halloween Town, before.

I wiped the water from my face. "I'm fine." I replied. It was far from the truth, but I couldn't tell this stranger the whole thing. "And you are…?"

"Jack Skellington," he replied. "Are you sure you're okay?" The same question she had asked.

"I'll be fine." That was mostly true, at least. "I have to get going now, though…"

"Okay then," Jack said. "If you need anything around here, let me know. Oh, and if you get any good scary ideas…"

"Right," I replied. "I'll do that."

I left for the Dark Corridor as quickly as I could.

-----

"Axel," I said, seeing him up on the clock tower. He got there first, again.

"Hey," Axel gave his usual smile.

"I…need to ask you something."

"Again?" he asked. "You must think I know a lot.." I knew it was supposed to be a joke, but I couldn't laugh.

"Do you really not remember the girl?" I questioned.

His smile faltered. "I've told you already, I don't kn--"

"I saw more…" I cut him off. "More memories. I know that you know her. Or at least…you knew her. You said the three of us would never be apart as long as…as long as we…"

"Remembered each other." Axel sighed. Then he murmured something that I couldn't hear.

"Why did you lie?" I demanded. "You said you didn't know anything about it. And if you lied then, why not now?"

"Who says I'm not lying, now?" Axel shook his head. "I'm not, but…anyway, Roxas. I don't remember completely. There are times when…I don't remember everything about her, either. Sometimes I forget her face. Sometimes her voice. I hardly remember her name, either."

I sighed. "So what did Saïx really say? Does he remember her?"

"He…he does," Axel hesitated. "He says that it's best if you forget. But…I felt like that wouldn't be fair to you. You should remember. We both should. But…Saïx is…you know…"

"So, what should we do?" I wondered out loud.

"Getting our memories back seems to me like a good step to start out with," Axel said. "After that…I don't think we can say for sure, yet."

"Yeah.." I sighed. Right then, I didn't even know if the first step could be completed.


	8. Day 379 : Heartbreak

**DAY 379** ~ Heartbreak

(Chapter 8)

That morning, I made a list of all the things I remembered about the girl. It wasn't that long…only eleven things. But I was glad to even know that much. A couple weeks earlier, I had completely forgotten about her.

Afterward I went to get my mission. It was at Beast's Castle, this time. I had to defeat a new type of Heartless that had surfaced there.

But upon entering, I saw more images…memories. I heard her, again.

Apparently she couldn't summon her keyblade. I told her to use mine. "What are you gonna use?" She cared so much. Why did she fade from my memory? "Roxas, that's a stick." I had been willing to risk a lot for her, too…she'd been so important.

The images soon faded. But the knowledge of how much she'd cared about me, how much I would be willing to help her, and how important she was…that didn't. I was lucky to remember that much.

Finding the heartless wasn't hard--it was in the first place I looked, the ballroom. Defeating it was completely different. I knew nothing about it, which made it even harder.

On my way back to the Dark Corridor, I heard Belle and that candlelabra talking. I stayed a safe distance away so that I wouldn't be seen, but close enough to see and hear them.

"Do not worry, I'm sure he will come around," the candle said. Belle was crying. I wonder if whatever happened had to do with what Xigbar did a few weeks earlier…

"But he's been so…different, lately!" Belle said. "I don't know how to help him, or if I even can…he stays up in his room, most of the time."

"Enjoying the drama?" a voice from behind me said. It was Xaldin.

"What are you doing here!?" I exclaimed, startled.

"I told you things would get interesting here," Xaldin smirked. "Look at her--shedding tears for no reason."

"She cares about him," I said, "and he's always in his room. Isn't that reason enough?"

"Hah!" Xaldin scoffed. "Love will just end in sadness, heartbreak. This human would be better off knowing that."

I decided not to respond. Instead, I left Xaldin and went to RTC.

Whatever Xaldin was doing, I didn't want to be a part of.

-----

I was on the clock tower before Axel, that day. "Hey, Roxas," he greeted as usual.

"Hi," I replied.

"Remember anything else about…her?" Axel asked.

"Kind of.." I said. "She cared a lot. About me, about us…I cared about her, too."

"Cared, or care?" Axel handed me an icecream.

"What do you mean?" I took the icecream and held it in my hands, staring at it a little before I took a bite.

"Well, do you think you would still care about her if you saw her today?"

"That wouldn't happen," I shook my head. "But I would probably care."

"So you still care about her," Axel concluded. "I do, too…somewhat. It's a bit hard when you barely know about a person, to care about them…"

"I know," I agreed. "By the way…Xaldin said something about love always ending in heartbreak. What's that mean?"

"Well…" Axel paused. "It's hard to know, since we don't have hearts. But I suppose…if you love someone and even a minor thing changes, badly…it would just make you really sad."

"Hmm.." I wondered if it were possible to love without a heart.

I'd probably never know.


	9. Day 380 : Missing Pieces

**DAY 380** ~ Missing Pieces

(Chapter 9)

In my dream, I was…searching for something. I had searched everywhere that I knew to look. But for what? What was so important that I had to look everywhere?

I woke up before that question was answered. I went downstairs for my mission, after that. I was given a couple missions, so I chose the one in Twilight Town, first. That was where I remembered the most about the girl…

The mission was simply to collect hearts. It took a bit longer than normal--they wanted a larger amount than usual--but it was fairly easy. During the mission some memories of chasing after the girl came up.

Why was she running, though? Did she think I was someone else? And why was I chasing her? Then there were the dreams of searching…had I been looking for her?

Somehow, I actually remembered. Sometimes, she'd…disappeared. But why did she run?

Though things were getting easier and easier to remember, it was just…really frustrating. None of it made sense, since there was so much else that I was forgetting.

So many missing pieces.

-----

I ended up asking Axel a bit on the clock tower. "Did she…our friend…did she sometimes disappear?" I asked. "Like not come back from a mission, or something?"

"Hm.." Axel didn't respond for a while. Was he having trouble remembering? Or did he just not want to tell me? "Yeah, sometimes," he finally said. "We've both searched for her, whenever it happened. One time our mission was to find her, and that was when…she couldn't use her keyblade for a while. The first time she disappeared."

"I wish I knew what she looked like…then I could look for her," I sighed. "But I don't even remember her name.."

"I used to," Axel said. "But…"

"Sometimes…I feel like I'm so close, though." I tried remembering, every day. I just…couldn't. "Like I only need to go a bit farther.."

"Well, it will probably come back to you, some time." Axel shook his head. "It needs to…"

I agreed. It had to come back.


	10. Day 394 : Names

**DAY 394** ~ Names

(Chapter 10)

Two weeks passed without me remembering anything more. I tried every day, but it just never happened.

Until that day. Day 394. When I'd remember everything.

It started out normal. Mostly. Apparently an imposter, someone wearing our organization's coat, had shown up. Someone from before. Saïx sent Axel and I to go look for him.

There was no specified area. We were just expected to look everywhere we could.

Only…he wasn't that hard to find.

We found him in Twilight Town. He looked…familiar, in a way. Silver hair, and a black blindfold. But maybe it was one of the things I was forgetting.

"You're still alive??" he said. He was looking at me. "I though I'd already eliminated you."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I didn't know him. How could I have fought him before?

"You know this guy?" Axel asked.

"No!"

"Hmph," the silver-haired guy took a step closer. "So when you forgot Xion, you forgot everyone around her, too?? How convenient."

"Xion…?" the name…it was her name! Suddenly, all the memories rushed back. I remembered everything. Her number, XIV, what she looked like, all the time we'd spent together…it all came back.

"That's…that's her.." Axel seemed to be in shock, or something, and simply stood there.

"Xion!" I became angry. "How do you know her!? What did you do to her back then?? It was all fine before you came in! Who ARE you??"

"Riku," he said, "is my name. But who I am…what I do…I don't have to tell you that."

"Why!?" I shouted. I summoned my keyblade, ready to attack at any time. "She…Xion was our friend! And she left for whoever this 'Sora' guy is…you told her about him! Didn't you!?"

"That's what she said, too," Riku came a bit closer. He was still out if striking distance, though. "She said she had friend who needed her. You guys don't even have hearts…how would you know what friendship is?"

"How would you??" I questioned. Some…tears started to come, but I didn't think anything of them. "You took her away from her friends.."

"I gave her a choice," Riku said. "If you don't like it, then fine. It makes no difference to me. But Sora needs his memories back, and if you have them…what choice do I have? I have to take them back by force."

He suddenly took out a weapon…a sword of some kind…and started coming towards me.

"Roxas, get back!!" Axel shouted. He threw his weapons between Riku and I, which stopped him.

"So your fake friendship is more important than a real person?" Riku asked. "How ridiculous."

"You know…you're really getting on my nerves," Axel said. "You're sounding a lot like Saïx…and that's bad enough without you threatening my friends!"

Suddenly, Axel attacked. Riku blocked his first strike, but they continued fighting. I couldn't do much, I just watched. I was kind of…frozen there. Finally, I wiped the tears off my face, and attacked.

Somehow, Riku was powerful enough to hold us both back…but only for a little bit. "I have no time for this!" he exclaimed. Riku jumped back, far from us, and opened a portal. "Think about it, Roxas. Sora's life could be saved!" and he disappeared.

"Let's go back to the castle, Roxas…" Axel was still staring at the spot where Riku had been just moments before.

"But what about--"

"We don't know where he went."

I could only nod at that. But I promised myself that I'd find Riku again some day. I would get more answers.


	11. Day 395 : Task

**DAY 395** ~ Task

(Chapter 11)

Along with the rest of the memories came the memory of Xion asking me to free Kingdom Hearts.

How would I do that? How would I even get to Kingdom Hearts? It seemed so…distant.

At least I could attempt to collect less hearts in the meantime. I'd use only magic, or something. That should work, shouldn't it?

Luckily, my mission that day was only to do recon. That meant it wasn't completely necessary to collect hearts.

The world I explored today was called Monstro. It was…the inside of a giant whale, which was kinda gross…but it was better than having to collect a bunch of hearts.

-----

Afterward, I sat on the clock tower wondering how I'd get to Kingdom Hearts. And, if I did get there, how I would free the hearts.

Then I started wondering who Sora really was. Why was he so important? Why did everyone mention him? Even Xion had…she said she had to go back to Sora, or something. It didn't make sense…a lot didn't.

"Hi Roxas," Axel said, taking a seat beside me.

"Hi," I replied. "You know…I'm sorry about…before. When I said I didn't trust you. But…I needed more answers, and I still do."

"Well…I'm not sure you'll be satisfied when you do get them," Axel replied. "If you found out…what would you do, anyway?"

"I don't know…" I knew that if I found out how to free Kingdom Hearts, I would. But what about anything else?

"I don't know how much you know, or what you want to know," Axel began, "but I might not know it, either."

"You seemed to know why the keyblade chose me," I countered.

Axel sighed. "Would you really believe me, even if I told you??"

"Maybe," I actually wasn't sure. But I wanted to know.

"You know who Sora is, right?" Axel asked.

"Not really."

"He…was a wielder of the keyblade," Axel said. "And you were created from him. Xion was created as another copy of you and Sora, a puppet that the organization made So you were both able to wield the keyblade. Happy now?"

"...Was Sora a Nobody?" I asked.

"He is a human," Axel shook his head. "His memories were…messed up. But they can't be fixed unless…"

"What? Unless what?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Axel sighed. "Or can you figure it out?"

"Just tell me." I wanted to know.

"If he wakes up, you'll disappear," Axel said. "Like Xion. You disappearing and giving the memories back…it's the only way he can wake up."

What Xion had said made more sense, then. That she needed to go back to Sora.

"She told me to free Kingdom Hearts," I told Axel. "Right before she…left."

"What?!" Axel looked…more surprised than a Nobody should be able to be. "Okay, so first you both leave the organization, and her last request is for you to take out Kingdom Hearts?? It would be a suicide trip! Don't tell me you're really going to!?"

"I have to," I replied. "Or at least die having tried to. Xion trusted me with the task of doing so…"

"You're crazy.." Axel let out a deep breath. "I'm not going to go and report you or anything…but I can't promise that I'll help. I don't know what I'll do."

"That's good enough for now," I replied. As long as Saïx or Xemnas or anyone else in the organization didn't know my plans…that would be fine for a while.  
I needed that time to figure things out.

"Axel…I have one more question."

"What's that?"

"Where is Sora?" I doubted he'd answer, but it was worth a try, right?

"I…can't tell you that." Axel sighed. "But there's this girl…Naminé…she's the one fixing his memories. She's in the Twilight Town mansion. She might be able to tell you more."

I nodded. "I'll go over there tomorrow." I stood up, ready to go back to the castle. "Thanks, Axel."


	12. Day 396 : Three Days

_((Okay, so from now on notes and stuff that I'm telling you will be in uhh...these double parenthesis and italics like this. _

_Kinda like OOC talk, but since it's not a roleplay I can't really call it that.  
_

_I know it's like, really stupid to have a disclaimer 12 chapters in, but here it is anyway (Because it's more important since we're ALMOST into the longer chapters, and I have less confidence in those...anyway..._

_Disclaimer(s):  
_

_~I obviously don't own KH since this is a fanfic...but also, I don't know all of the characters that well, so how they talk is probably not accurate...uhh yeah..._

_~Now what was I going to say...? Oh yeah...well obviously I'm forgetful...and I also haven't played Chain of Memories or KH II (though I've done reading about them and stuff) so those details are most likely not accurate...._

_~THIS IS MY FIRST SERIOUS FANFIC! (I've written like, one-paragraph-incomplete fanfics when I was in 5th grade. For Naruto. And that wasn't serious writing, just boredom...I don't count those..)!!!! So I don't have FF writing experience...which is why REVIEWS are appreciated! :]_

_End of Disclaimers. Now to (hopefully) enjoy the chapter...))_

**DAY 396** ~ Three Days

(Chapter 12)

My mission for the day was luckily in Twilight Town. That made things more convenient. I could finish my mission, and head to the mansion afterward.

All I had to do on my mission was defeat a Darkside. It was stronger than Darksides normally were, but I got it done quickly enough.

I didn't know how to get past the gates to the mansion, though. There was a giant lock on it. I stood staring at it, but I didn't have to worry for too much longer.

Suddenly, a girl came up beside me.

"Hello, Roxas," she said. She looked surprisingly like Xion. The girl wore a white dress and had long blonde hair.

"Um…hi," I responded. "How do you know my name?"

'm Naminé," she replied. "Did you have a reason to come here?"

"Axel said that you might be able to tell me more about Sora," I answered.

"Oh, yes," Naminé nodded. "Would you like to come in, then?"

"But…it's locked."

"Use your keyblade."

At that time, I didn't know that the keyblade could be used to unlock things. But I didn't seem to know much of anything, so I didn't question what she told me to do. As soon as I held the keyblade towards the lock, it opened.

"Good," Naminé stepped up and pushed the gate open farther. "Follow me."

She led me to a white room, decorated in some places with drawings. Some of them looked a bit familiar. Sora was in a lot of them.

"Roxas," Naminé said. "Really your birth was…an accident. Sora caused your creation without knowing it."

"Huh?" Sora created me? "But what…"

"And later…his memory was messed up," Naminé continued. "Some of it went into you. And at Castle Oblivion…when Xion was created as a copy of you…some traveled to her, as well. Now that she's returned to Sora…he should awaken soon. And when he does, you'll join him."

"Join him?" I asked. "Like, disappear?"

"You won't disappear," Naminé said. "But you'll be with Sora. With Xion."

"What…when?" I hadn't learned that much. A lot of it Axel had told me. I was starting to doubt her.

"In a few days, maybe. Three at most."

"Three?!" I exclaimed. "But…Kingdom Hearts…I have to free the hearts there. Can't I have more time?"

"I'm sorry…" Naminé shook her head. "I can't make it any longer. It's already been held off for a month from when he would have awakened. But…"

"But what?"

"When you join him…maybe you could talk to him," She replied. "I don't know for sure."

"But how--"

Suddenly, someone appeared. His head was wrapped in red bandages, and he looked straight at Naminé.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You remember what I told you earlier, don't you?"

"DiZ…" Naminé seemed a bit startled. "Isn't it fair for him to know?"

"He is a Nobody," DiZ said. "Fair or not, I gave you orders."

Then, a dark corridor opened nearby. Axel stepped out. He looked at the three of us, and then sighed.

"Roxas," he said. "We're going back to the castle."

"Axel!" I exclaimed. "But I haven't--"

"Go!" Naminé shouted, and Axel grabbed my arm and dragged me through the portal. We came out back at the organization, in my room.

"I have three days left," I said. "Three days. That's all I found out. The rest you had told me."

"Three days!?" Axel looked as surprised as I had felt. "That's…they could have given more of an advanced warning, or something! That's so short! So what happens after that??"

"I don't know…" I wished I did. I wished Axel, Xion and I could all be together like in the past. But those wishes didn't matter. I'd be gone in only a few days.

Axel groaned, and started pacing, staring at the ground. He stopped for a moment and stared out the window. "So if you…don't completely disappear…if you can still think clearly…will you remember me?"

"I hope so…" I replied. "But right now…I have no idea what will happen."

Axel turned and nodded, then he started heading for the door. "If you do remember me," he said. "If you can…know that I'll try to help both of you out. I'll help you eliminate Kingdom Hearts."

Before I could form a reply, he left.

_((Uhh...that seemed a bit random...oh well...It's maybe possibly going to hopefully end up more interesting? :)))_


	13. Day 397 : Focused::Day 399 : Last & 1st

_((First off, I would like to say..._

_THANK YOU EVERYONE!!_

_For supporting me for my first fanfic :3._

_I only hope that I can keep it as good as you've all said it was so far.._

_Uhh...I'm going to add some more comments in the middle of this. Because I feel like I clumped together too many important parts. So by creating a short note from me in the middle, it will add more suspense...? Maybe..._

_I reeaaallllyyyy hope you like this one...))_

DAY 397 ~ Focused

(Chapter 13!)

I barely got any sleep that night. Even on my mission, I was only half-focused.  
I only had two days left. Maybe even less.  
How would anyone be able to focus, if they knew that they'd be gone soon?

-----

DAY 399 ~ Last and First

That morning, Axel came up to me in the hallway, before we got down to the lobby.

"Hey, Roxas," He said.

"Hey…" I managed to get out.

"Well, um…good luck, today," I had a feeling that he wasn't just talking about what the Organization had assigned me. "I'll see you later, I guess…they told me to head out as soon as possible."

"Y-yeah…thanks…" I felt like I had when I actually started talking, back when I first joined the organization. I couldn't form words or sentences that easily. I had to think about them longer than I'd usually have to. "I'll see you…too. I promise."

With that he had to leave, and I hoped that I could actually keep my promise.

My mission was surprisingly in Twilight Town, again. I didn't even have to start it. When I appeared in Twilight Town, Naminé was there, waiting.

"Roxas…it's time now," She said. "Are you ready?"

"I…I guess." As ready as I was capable of.

We went to the mansion together. I saw Riku outside, but we barely exchanged glances. I tried ignoring. He'd gotten his way, hadn't he? He seemed satisfied.

This time Naminé led me to a different room, where there was some…pod in the middle. There were a few other pods, as well.

"He's going to wake up soon," Naminé said. "Roxas…I…I'm sorry you've had to go through so much. DiZ…doesn't care about Nobodies. He thinks that since they don't have hearts, they can't feel anything. But I think you're an example of why he's wrong." she paused, sighing. Then she looked up at me. "Good luck."

That was when the pod started opening. It didn't take long before I could feel tears starting to fall down my face.

Then I saw him. "Sora…"

I began to fade.

-----

_((This is where we will take a short break to hear me talk. Or read the words I type, really. Whichever you prefer._

_So...uhh..._

_I guess I took a few ideas from the KHII manga...just a little...just so I know who the characters are and am not excluding stuff that makes it fit the overall KH storyline...if that long sentence made any sense..._

_I decided to do a lot of reading and watching KH stuff (when my wi-fi gets set up! :D) so then I can make this more accurate...yeah._

_I'm sorry to be talking totally pointlessly. But I really think that it will make this a bit more interesting/suspenseful...it seemed like a good cut-off place...but I promised longer chapters so I wanted it to still have a long chapter...which is how I decided to make this random talking thing in the middle of it. xP._

_But if you want to skip, go ahead...I won't stop you...haha ^_^_

_I think I've rambled on long enough, now..._

_OH WAIT! I HAVE A QUESTION!_

_Well I wrote a scene for the ending of KH 358/2 Days from Xion's point of view (in other words, Xion's Death from her own point of view...I don't mark this as a spoiler because if you're reading this, it's quite obvious that she's not alive...I think...). And...I like writing from her point of view (not that I don't like writing from Roxas's point of view, I like both, but anyway...)! So I wondered if I should write this fanfic from Xion's point of view, as well (in a separate fanfic, but they follow the same storyline...)?_

_Feedback on this idea would be appreciated...I think it would be pretty cool to do...but I want to know if I should work on and finish this one first, or both at the same time, or completely forget writing from Xion's point of view. xP.))_

-----

Everything was white. There was absolute nothingless. Is this what happens to Nobodies when they die?

I kept looking around me. Eventually, I saw a figure there, looking around as well, wearing the organization's coat…

_"Xion!"_ I called out without thinking.

The figure turned, and I saw her face. It _was_ Xion. She started running up to me.

_"R-Roxas!"_ Xion sounded a bit surprised. She came to a stop once she reached where I was.

_"Where are we?"_ I asked.

_"We're in Sora's mind,"_ Xion replied. _"Right now, he's still asleep…but not for too much longer. Soon, we'll see what he sees."_

_"But…how do you know this?"_ I asked.

_"After over a month of being here, things just…came to me,"_ she replied. _"You'll understand after a while."_

I nodded, not sure what else to say or do. And then, everything changed. Like Xion said, I saw what Sora was seeing out of his own eyes.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora said to an odd pair that I'd also seen in his memories. He yawned and stretched. "Wow, I feel like I've slept forever."

"Where are we, anyway?" one of them asked.

_'That's Donald,'_ I heard Xion's voice, explaining. _'All you have to do to talk like this is think the words lightly. If you think them too hard, Sora will probably hear. He's not ready for that, yet.'_

_'Okay,'_ I replied.

Naminé stepped up in front of Sora. "Where you are right now isn't important," Naminé said. "You'll need to go somewhere else so that you can be safe."

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

"That's not important, either," Naminé shook her head. "I can tell you later, but…DiZ is coming. Please. Flee, now."

"O-kay…" Sora said. "Donald, Goofy, Jiminy! we have to go!"

"Jiminy is asleep,". Goofy said. "Didn't wake up yet."

"We'll wake him up later," Sora said. He turned to Naminé. "Thank you…Maybe I'll see you some other time?"

Naminé simply nodded and gestured towards the door. She looked like she might have wanted to say something, but didn't.

Sora led his group out the doors and into Twilight Town.

-----

Sora had ended up looking all over Twilight Town. He wasn't really looking for anything, but just curious about the world he was in. He had traveled to many worlds before, but without a Gummi Ship he couldn't, then.

The organization was pretty lucky to have the Dark Corridor.

Sora and his friends decided to sleep in the woods for the night. They took turns keeping watch, in case some heartless popped up. Donald was first, so Sora went to sleep.

I found out that Sora's mind was blank, everything went white again, when he was asleep, but only until the dreams started. Even so, that gave me some time to talk to

Xion more. We didn't have to pay attention to what Sora was doing.

_"So how was Axel doing before you came here?"_ Xion asked.

_"He was fine,"_ I answered. _"His usual self…"_

_"Well, at least he's doing well,"_ Xion said. _"I wish I could have talked to him before I…left."_

_"Yeah…"_ Then I remembered what she had said earlier. _"Didn't you say that if we thought a sentence with enough force, Sora would hear it? Could we talk to him?"_

_"Yeah, but…he doesn't know us. How would he know he's really hearing us, and not just going crazy or something?"_

_"Naminé,"_ I replied. _"She could tell him."_

I could tell that the white was starting to fade, that Sora was starting to dream.

_"We could try it, tomorrow, I guess…"_ Xion said. _"For now, let's stay quiet."_

_((Yay...well be prepared for longer chapters, now. I think. Well, I'm pretty sure the next ones are longer o.o._

_I went up to day 401 or something like that in the word doc (well, I use open office) (it was from days 356-401?) and it went up to 10 pages...which is probably twice or more than twice as long as the chapters have been so far..._

_Uhh well anyway...I'll shut up now, and I'll probably have the next chapter up...sometime soon! ^_^))_

_((Random note: Text in quotes and italics is stuff that only Xion and Roxas can hear, and not Sora. So that you won't be confused later.))_


	14. Day 400 : New Journey

_((YAY!! It finally worked!! Okay, well yesterday I couldn't upload ANYTHING to , but it works today so I can update! Yay! :D_

_So anyway...thank you everyone (again) for all the awesome reviews! And tips and stuff! _

_I'm going to give you all a virtual bag of popcorn for this chapter. Because it's 2,157 words (before typing this random stuff) and that's a LOT longer the chapters have been before. Or I could give you a virtual sea-salt icecream. You can pick ;)._

_So anyway...I'll upload part of the Xion thing. Just the part about her dying that I mentioned in the last chapter...xP._

_And I decided to work on Xion's story whenever I get writer's block for this one. Because that might help me overcome the writer's block and stuff..._

_I also realized that I talk too much XD. So I'll let you read now. Enjoy~!))  
_

**DAY 400** ~ New Journey

(Chapter 14)

The next morning, I let Xion try to communicate with Sora. She seemed to have more experience with his mind and thoughts.

'Sora,' she began. 'Can you hear me?'

"Whoa!" Sora jumped at the unfamiliar voice. "Hey, did either of you say something just now?" Donald and Goofy simply looked at him and shook their heads.

The three of them were at the clock tower, where Axel, Xion and I used to eat ice cream.

'Don't speak out loud,' Xion told Sora. 'You only need to form the thought in your head. We'll hear.'

'Who's we? There's more than one voice?' he replied. At least he wasn't being difficult, though he was completely confused.

'We're Nobody's.' Xion paused. 'It's hard to explain. When you freed your heart to save Kairi, Roxas was created. I was later created as a copy of him, but…some of your memories made it back to us. And when we returned them to you, we ended up here.'

'In my mind?'

'Yes.'

Sora was thinking about it. There was a chance that he might believe us.

'Sora,' I managed to communicate with him. It felt weird. 'The girl from yesterday…Naminé…she knows about us. She could tell you more.'

'Where is she?'

'The mansion,' I replied. 'I can tell you how to get there.'

'Actually, you might be able to take temporary control of his body,' Xion put in.

'What?' Sora and I thought in unison.

'I...don't know. I just thought of it. But…try it, Roxas.'

I did. I raised Sora's hand up, and set it back down. I could control his body. It wasn't that easy--it took great effort--but with practice I thought I might get better.

'Uh…' Sora seemed worried. He had a right to be. 'Well, take me there, then.'

I did. I stood Sora up, and mentioned to his friends, "I have an idea of where to go!"

"Where?" Donald asked.

"Somewhere with a Gummi Ship?" Goofy added.

"Uh…I'm not sure," Sora said, that time. "Just follow me."

I then took control of his body and took him to the mansion where Naminé was. The gate was unlocked, this time, so I took him straight to the white room.

Naminé was sitting at the table, drawing, as usual. She looked up and seemed a bit surprised to see Sora.

'So this is…?' Sora asked.

'Naminé. Yes,' I answered.

"Sora," Naminé greeted. "And are Roxas and Xion there as well?"

"Yes," Sora said.

"That's good," Naminé looked at Donald and Goofy. "I see your friends are here, too. Your memories are all right, then?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" Sora asked.

"Nevermind." Naminé looked out the window. "Do you have a way to travel between worlds?"

"No," Sora replied.

"We don't have a Gummi Ship!" Donald said.

"Is that what this is called?" Naminé's drawing was of Sora and his friends in a ship. A Gummi Ship.

"Y-yeah, that's it," Sora stared at the drawing.

"You need to go get on the train," Naminé said. "It will take you to another world, to some others that you know. Hurry, before DiZ finds you, here."

"But what about you?" Sora asked.

Naminé sighed. "He already plans to dispose of me. There's nothing I can do."

"Come with us, then!" Sora suggested. "I don't know who DiZ is…but no one has the right to just take your life away like that!"

"I…" clearly, Naminé had never thought of that. She paused for a few moments. Then she finally nodded. "I'll go with you, then." She gathered up her crayons and pencils, and also took her sketchbook.

-----

On the way to the train, we actually saw Axel.

"Naminé!" he exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"This is Sora, Goofy, and Donald," she ignored his question, gesturing to each as she introduced them. "Roxas and Xion are in Sora."

'Can I talk to him?' I asked Sora. 'He's…he's my best friend.'

'Y-yeah. Hold on, I'll tell him real quick.'

"Roxas wants to talk to you," Sora said. "But first…what's your name?"

"Axel," he answered.

"I'm Sora," Sora smiled. "Okay, here's Roxas."

"Hey," Axel said.

"Hey Axel," Of course, since I was using Sora's body, I sounded like him. "Anything new with the organization?"

"They haven't officially realized your absence, yet," Axel replied. "But they're usually not slow about these things…they'll know pretty soon. You should probably get away, quickly…for all of your safety."

"Don't worry, Axel, we will," Xion was speaking. "It's me…Xion."

"Hey, Xion," Axel actually smiled a bit. "It's been a while…and last time, we were in a battle, weren't we?"

"Haha, yeah."

"We should go," Naminé suddenly said. "Sora, take control of your body again. It won't take long for DiZ to realize that I'm not there. We need to leave quickly."

"Okay," Sora nodded. "Axel, it was nice meeting you."

"You too." Axel paused, as if hesitating, then said, "Take good care of Roxas and Xion, for me."

"Alright. I will." though Sora didn't know how he would.

I didn't, either.

-----

The train was very boring. We had to stay on there for a long time, but no one knew exactly how much time it was.

"So who's Roxas?" Donald asked, as soon as we all got on the train.

"He…" Sora wasn't actually sure, I could tell.

"He's Sora's Nobody," Naminé said. "And Xion is a copy, so she's one, too."

"Sora's Nobody?" Donald repeated.

"What's a Nobody?" Goofy asked.

"A Nobody is…" Naminé paused, probably trying to think of the words. "They're people who were born without a heart. The strongest of them, led by Xemnas, have formed an organization of Nobodies that Roxas and Xion were once in. It's called Organization XIII."

'Sora…will you ask her to tell you about Kingdom Hearts?' I mentioned. It was probably an important part.

"What is 'Kingdom Hearts'?" Sora took my suggestion. "He just told me to ask about it."

"How did he tell you?" Donald asked.

"Roxas and Xion can talk to me, somehow. But I don't know how."

"Kingdom Hearts was the Organization's goal," Naminé explained. "They needed Roxas's keyblade power, however, to collect hearts and create Kingdom Hearts. The purpose was…they thought they could get a heart or something. I'm not sure if that's true, but we won't find out too soon."

"Collect hearts…?" Sora thought out loud. "But why can they…care about each other, if they really don't have hearts?"

"Some of the Nobodies go too far in 'accepting' that they don't have a heart," Naminé replied. "They then cease to feel anything. But for those who want to feel…it's possible. That's what I believe."

"That makes enough sense," Sora didn't add the 'I guess' he had been thinking about adding. "So, anyway…where are we headed?"

"A world called Hallow Bastion," Naminé replied. "There, we might be able to find some help."

_((I know that in the uhh...real version the train just takes them to Yen Sid's house or whatever, but in this version the train can travel between worlds...xP))_

-----

Upon arriving, Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around a bit.

"Wow, this place seems nicer than before," Sora noted. "There's some new shops, more people…"

"Less heartless," Goofy added.

"Yeah, that too," Sora smiled.

I noticed that Naminé was just quietly trailing behind.

"Sora!" A voice called. Sora turned and I saw a girl who had short black hair and a…strange outfit. She had knee high boots and a headband as well. The girl ran up to Sora. "It's been a long time!"

"Hi, Yuffie!" Sora replied. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! A whole lot has changed around here."

"It would have been at least a year," Naminé said from behind Sora.

"Oh, who's this?" Yuffie asked, looking around Sora to see Naminé. Sora turned a bit to look at both of them.

"This is Naminé," Sora said. "She…" he trailed off realizing that he actually didn't know much about her. "Actually, she doesn't say much about herself."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Naminé," Yuffie greeted. "I'm Yuffie."

Naminé nodded. She had gotten a black crayon and her sketch book out and was already drawing a picture.

"Hey, are you guys having a party over here?" Someone asked. It was some tall guy with brown hair and dressed in mostly black.

"In case you haven't noticed, there's girls here, too," Yuffie commented.

"Leon!" Donald And Goofy exclaimed.

"Hi…" Leon didn't seem to be the energetic type.

"Well, anyway, welcome to the new Hallow Bastion!" Yuffie said. "We've even been renovating the castle. I'm hoping that, eventually, this place can be really peaceful."

"Yeah…" Sora agreed.

_'Do you understand what's going on here?'_ I asked Xion.

_'Not completely,'_ she admitted. 'But hopefully we'll understand, soon…or we could ask Sora, later.'

_'Alright.'_ I wondered when that would be.

Suddenly, some Dusks showed up. I'd seen them at the organization's castle when I'd escaped, before. What were they doing here?

"What are these!?" Sora exclaimed, summoning his keyblade.

"I'll explain in a minute," Yuffie was suddenly in battle mode, getting her throwing star ready. "Just beat them!"

It only took a little bit. I noticed that Sora used the more simple keyblade rather than the one I'd learned to use…but I kept quiet.

"Those were lesser Nobodies," Naminé said, closing her sketch book as she spoke. "Or they are also called Dusks. The Nobodies with personalities, the ones in the organization, control the Dusks."

"They show up a lot, here," Yuffie explained. "Cid's working on something to get rid of them, but it's still in progress. So Leon and I come out here to fight the Heartless and Nobodies off."

"Well, at least they were easy," Sora sighed. "So where is Cid?"

"He's at our secret hideout," Yuffie started to walk down the street a bit. "Follow me!"

Everyone followed Yuffie to the hideout. There we met Cid--he was a man with short blonde hair, and was muscular. When we arrived, he was sitting in front of a computer looking at some king of complicated code.

"Guess who's back!?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Other than you?" Cid asked. He started typing something on the computer.

"More surprising than that," Leon said.

Cid turned around. "Well, if it isn't Sora and his friends. Where have you been for the past year?"

"He doesn't know," Naminé said. "Sora was asleep for a year. But he has no memory of it."

"How do you know?" Cid asked. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Relax, Cid, she's an ally," Yuffie assured. "Her name is Naminé."

"I'll get everyone some drinks," offered a lady who I hadn't noticed earlier. She had her long hair in a braid, tied with a large bow.

"That was Aerith," Yuffie told Naminé. "This guy at the computer is Cid, and this guy right here--" she gestured to Leon "--is Leon."

Naminé gave a small smile and nodded.

"Well, since you'll be needing a place to stay, tonight…" Yuffie said, "Leon and I can go start preparing the guest rooms."

"Why me!?" Leon asked.

"Quit complaining, you're not doing anything important!" Yuffie started off towards a hallway and, reluctantly, Leon followed.

What an interesting group of people.

-----

That night Xion and I talked to Sora for a bit.

'How long have you known them?' Xion asked.

Sora seemed a bit startled by the sudden question, but answered, 'Ever since I started getting into this whole…keyblade thing. They helped me out, told me about the keyblade and stuff…I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without them!'

It was kind of like Axel, Xion and I. They were all with me since the very beginning.

'That's nice…' Xion paused. 'So what are you planning to do, now?'

'I still have to find Riku,' Sora replied. 'Donald and Goofy have to find King Mickey. And then…I've got to go back to Kairi. She's been waiting for such a long time…'

The name 'Riku' struck me. I'd seen him, before. 'How long have you been searching? And why?'

'Well, before…Riku kind of gave in to the darkness. And I had this…keyblade that gave me the responsibility of fighting off heartless and such. Donald and Goofy came along with me, and we were searching for our friends along the way. I was able to…find Kairi, but Riku and the King are still out there. It's been over a year…'  
Sora was explaining this to us while trying to fight off sleep. He was exhausted. After only a minute or so, he fell asleep. We were left with only the white, but that allowed us to talk alone.

_"So what should we do?"_ I asked Xion. _"Should we tell him that we've seen Riku?"_

_"I don't know,"_ Xion replied. _"It might be better if we do. But…if Riku is with DiZ…"_

I hadn't thought of that. Riku had been at the mansion, where Naminé was always mentioning DiZ. They probably knew each other. But Sora would probably go after Riku, whether DiZ was there or not. He really seemed determined to find him. "We should decide later."

_"Okay,"_ Xion's voice and face faded as Sora began to dream.

_((I decided that the text inside the quotations AND italics is for when Xion and Roxas are talking, but Sora can't hear. So then you'll know what Sora is hearing, and what he isn't.._

_Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! More will come soon! ^_^))_


	15. Day 401 : Past

_((Since all of your reviews have put me in a good mood and stuff, I decided to upload again today! ^_^._

_Umm...another disclaimer for this particular chapter (and any chapter, really..): Please forgive any errors in the KH storyline since I don't know that much about it...xP._

_And...hmmm...  
_

_How about, on my next short-ish chapter, I'll add a bonus part! Because I actually have some random stuff typed up of stuff from this FF or the Days game from different peoples'/Nobodies' points of view. Some are only a paragraph or two, some are longer.._

_But next time I have a short chapter I will do that to make up for the shortness of the chapter xP. ^_^_

_Now...enjoy this chapter~! :]))_

**DAY 401** ~ Past

(Chapter 15)

The next morning, after breakfast, Cid showed Sora, Donald and Goofy a new Gummi Ship. Naminé and Yuffie had come, too.

"King Mickey had left this here," Cid explained. "It was quite a while ago…he said to save it for whenever you came."

"How did he know we would come at all?" Sora said.

Cid shrugged. "I'm only the messenger. But if you need work done on the ship later, you can come back here."

"Alright," Sora replied.

"So where do you think you're going to go, first?" Yuffie asked.

"I don't really know," Sora shook his head. "Wherever the Gummi Ship can take us, I guess. And then we'll continue our search."

"I think you should stop the Organization," Naminé suggested. She was drawing in her sketch book, as usual.

"What do you mean?" Donald asked. "We already have to find King Mickey and Riku! We have to stop them, now??"

"It's important," Naminé began an explanation. "The hearts they've collected with Roxas…they're almost capable of completing Kingdom Hearts. And the hearts from the Heartless that Sora defeats could find their way into Kingdom Hearts, as well. If it's not stopped soon, they'll have hearts that are not even theirs."

'You do need to free Kingdom Hearts,' Xion told Sora. 'If Xemnas gets what he wants…I don't think he'll stop after getting a heart.'

"Xion seems to agree with you," Sora said. "But how will we free it?"

"These keyblades," Naminé showed the picture she had been drawing. It was of the two keyblades I had used while fighting Riku.

"But I don't have two keyblades!" Sora insisted. "And those look a lot different from mine, anyway. I've never seen a chain that could transform it like that…"

'I didn't need a chain,' I recalled. 'I just…summoned them.'

"Roxas…didn't need a chain…?" Sora was confused. "But how do I summon the keyblades?"

"Roxas can control your body, right?" Naminé asked.

"Uh…yeah."

"Let him try to summon the keyblades." Naminé's suggestion even surprised me. I didn't know if I'd still be able to…I didn't have as much of the anger or regret I'd had the one time I used them.

"Okay," Sora sighed. "Roxas. Go ahead."

I tried it. It didn't work. Then I tried to recall what I'd felt back then, and kept trying…

The keyblades popped up in my--or rather, Sora's--hands.

"Good," Naminé smiled. "Now, Sora…do you remember what Roxas did to summon them?"

Sora took control of his body again. "Yeah…"

"Try it yourself."

Sora dismissed the keyblades, then tried to summon them again. It took him a few tries, but he managed to get it.

"Whoa…" Sora was amazed even at himself. "I wish I'd known this, before."

"You should be able to free Kingdom Hearts with those keyblades." Naminé closed up her sketchbook.

"But where is Kingdom Hearts?" Goofy asked.

"The Castle that Never Was," I spoke through Sora. "Where the Organization is."

"I don't think you'll be able to get there right away," Cid said. "The Gummi Ship can't travel to unknown worlds right away. So you could search for your friends in other worlds while working towards getting to Kingdom Hearts."

"That would be good," Naminé nodded.

"Naminé, are you going to go with them?" Yuffie asked.

"I haven't really thought about it," Naminé replied. "DiZ can go anywhere he wants in Twilight Town, but I don't know about other worlds. It might be better for me not to stay in one place. And I'd like to help Sora."

"Who is DiZ, anyway?" Sora wondered out loud. "You've mentioned him a lot."

"He…created a DigitalTwilight Town," Naminé paused. "I don't know that much about him, but he was kind of my…boss, when…"

"When what?" Cid asked, seeming to still be suspicious of the newcomer.

"Before," Naminé answered. And then she remained quiet.

Cid sighed and turned back to Sora and his friends. "So anyway…be careful with the Gummi Ship. You may have reduced prices since you're friends of mine, but that doesn't mean I'll repair for free every time. A guy's gotta earn a living."

"Of course," Sora said.

"When are you planning on leaving?" Leon asked, suddenly in the room. I hadn't heard him come in, but I guess he was being discreet about it.

"This evening would be good, if we're ready by then," Sora seemed nervous and determined at the same time. "I want to start searching as soon as possible."

"Aw, you always leave so quickly!" Yuffie pouted. "Promise that you'll visit some time soon, 'kay?"

"Yeah, sure!" Sora gave his usual smile.

"I'll go with you all," Naminé decided. "If that's okay?"

"Well, of course it is!" Goofy exclaimed.

"You're always welcome here, too," Yuffie smiled. "All of you. It's good to have company!"

"If you still need to prepare for your trip," Leon said, "You should look around the shops here in Hollow Bastion. There are plenty of useful accessories and items around.

I'll loan you some munny, too." He walked up and gave Sora 3,000 munny. Then putting a hand on his shoulder said, "Be careful."

He then walked out.

"That Leon…" Yuffie complained, but she had a smile on her face. "He really _can_ be nice!"

That made Sora and some of the others laugh, even Naminé. It felt so good to laugh.

I wished that I had a heart and could join them.

-----

"Be careful, all of you!" Yuffie said sternly.

After afternoon was spent loitering around shops and preparing for the journey ahead--they'd even bought new outfits--Sora was already a bit tired. But not enough to stop him from traveling to another world. He was determined to go.

"We will," Sora nodded.

"You sure you don't want to stay a bit longer?" Cid asked.

"We're all ready right now!" Sora smiled. "We'll be fine. See you!" Everyone had boarded the ship and the door started to close.

"Bye!" Yuffie said loudly, waving. Cid waved, too. Leon simply nodded at Sora.

Donald and Goofy waved through the window, and Sora joined in. Naminé gave a small wave, but was still being fairly quiet.

And then the ship took off.

-----

The navigators on the Gummi Ship, Chip and Dale, had said that it would be a few hours at the least before we reached another world. That gave Sora, Naminé, Donald, and Goofy time to sleep.

Or, in Sora and Naminé's case, to talk a bit.

"So what did you mean by 'before'?" Sora asked Naminé. Donald and Goofy were sound asleep in their seats. "You said DiZ was your boss…?"

"Yes," Naminé nodded. "He was."

"But why do you leave some stuff out?" Sora was getting a bit impatient. Though I'd only known him for a day, it seemed unlike him. He normally was more easygoing.

"I don't want you to…think badly of me," Naminé admitted.

"Why would I?" Sora shook his head. "But if I say that I won't…will you tell me?"

"If you really want to know…" she sighed. "So the real story…on your journey…you came across a place called Castle Oblivion…"

"Yeah?"

"When you went there, I'd altered your memories. They became all jumbled up," Naminé paused. "You could barely remember Kairi, since I had replaced her with myself in those memories. I had been lonely. But I promised I'd give your memories back, I'd fix them, if you wanted me to. After defeating Marluxia, who was a former member of the Organization, you agreed to let me fix your memories. You had to sleep for about a year, and while I worked on your memories…DiZ…supervised."

"…Wow," Sora wasn't sure what to say. It was difficult for him to take it all in. He felt a little bit angry that Naminé had once almost erased Kairi from his memories, but she seemed to regret it so much… "So…is there anything else about these Nobodies in me…?"

I listened more intently. If there was, then I wanted to know, too.

"Roxas was created when you freed your heart to save Kairi," Naminé explained. "But along with being your Nobody, he gained some of your memories. The organization created Xion as a duplicate of Roxas, so that they could have more with the keyblade's powers.

"Because she was copied from your Nobody, she gained some of the memories as well. This became a problem when you were asleep--while they had your memories, it was hard to fix yours. Almost impossible. Xion…made a decision to let you have what was yours back--your memories back. Then you could wake up. Upon doing so, Roxas joined the two of you, as well, it seems."

Sora was literally speechless. He was also tired, and the urge to sleep grew because he wanted to forget it for a little while. I was almost as amazed. How did Naminé find out all of this stuff, anyway?

Sora yawned. "I…I think I'll sleep a bit," he mumbled.

Naminé seemed to understand. "I'll rest, too. It's good for all of us, since we'll be traveling a lot more from now on."

"Yeah…" Sora closed his eyes and almost immediately fell into unconsciousness.

-----

_"Do you think it would be possible to talk to Naminé without Sora hearing?"_ I asked dumbly. I knew it was a no, but if there was the slightest possibility, Xion would probably know.

_"I'm…not sure,"_ her answer surprised me. I'd honestly been expecting a no. _"I'd thought about it before, but since when we take over his body he becomes an observer like us, wouldn't he still notice? And we can't sleep…so he would probably know."_

_"Hmm…"_ I wasn't sure what to think. Everything seemed so unreal lately, it didn't seem too crazy to believe the most unlikely things.

_"Why do you want to talk to her without Sora, anyway?"_ Xion asked.

_"She seems to know a lot,"_ I replied. _"Maybe she'll know what to do about Riku."_

_"True…"_ Xion sighed. _"I wish we had our own bodies…our own hearts…things would be much simpler, wouldn't they?"_

I couldn't argue. But…I wanted to reassure her. _"Maybe we can get hearts, somehow,"_ I suggested.

_"What?"_ Xion looked at me as if she didn't know whether to go along with it, or argue. Hopeful, but also not wanting to disappoint herself. _"But…I mean, that would be great and all…how??"_

_"We might find out along the way,"_ I shrugged. I really had no idea. Sora's dreams were about to start, so I decided to wrap up the conversation. _"But we can't give up!"_ I tried to give a reassuring smile.

_"Ha,"_ Xion smiled back. _"Right."_

_((One side note for anyone who doesn't know yet (or did I mention this yesterday? I can't remember), I've uploaded part of the story from Xion's POV. A very small part. But it's easy to find, it's currently my only other fanfic, and titled "Last Whispers." _

_Just letting you know in case you want to read it ^_^))  
_


	16. Day 402 : Invasion

_((Wow, already Chapter 16. Longest chapter so far, I think..._

_This one is a little bit weird (I think). Mostly towards the end. But I'll let you read and find out._

_Thank you all for the reviews on this, once again!_

_I'm got writer's block on both this and my other fanfic, though...it's kinda bad...but the block seems to be...shrinking. Letting me think of ideas some more. Yay~_

_Anyway, enough of my talking, enjoy~))_

**DAY 402** ~ Invasion

(Chapter 16)

"Wake up, you three! We're about to land!"

Sora was jerked out of his sleep by these words, and groaned, opening his eyes only slightly. But when he realized where he was, that got him up comepletely.

"Where are we landing?" Goofy asked.

"At Beast's Castle," Chip explained. "It's the closest planet we could get to, and since we've been flying so long it's a good idea to land."

"Sounds good to me," Sora yawned. Then he turned to Naminé, who was quietly drawing beside him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Oh…well I actually couldn't sleep that long. Only an hour or two. So I've just been drawing," She looked down at her current sketch--Sora and I were both in it, looking as if we were about to fight. But…why?

"Oh…" Sora looked at the drawing with some interest, but didn't know who I was in it. Or maybe he just ignored me? "You should try to catch up on sleep, when you can."

Naminé simply nodded. She turned back toner drawing and started to sketch in some details.

"And, we're here!" Dale announced. I was eager to see the world again--at least it was familiar to me.

But as soon as Sora stepped out…I sensed that something was wrong. It felt wrong.

'Do you feel that, too?' Xion asked, thinking the same thing.

'Yeah…' I wondered what was up. Everything looked the same. Just a regular night, the statues all standing tall around the yard. It was just that the…atmosphere was eerie.

Sora and his friends approached the castle's front doors. He knocked, but at first there was no response. "Anyone there!?" he shouted.

No response. Then Sora heard something landing behind him. He looked, and it was a…clock?

'It's that talking clock,' Xion noticed.

'Yeah, but why did he just suddenly land on the ground…?'

"Who are you?" the clock asked with some kind of mix between curiosity and a demand.

"I could ask the same to you…where are the Beast and Belle?" Sora almost got out his keyblade, but decided that a peaceful approach might be better.

"You know them?" the clock asked. "Oh…oh, will you help us?" he began to plead. "The Master…Belle…such a big problem…"

"Whoa, wait, what happened?" I was glad Sora asked. I wanted to know, too.

"Well, come inside, just for a moment…I have to explain quickly…oh, we're in trouble…"

The clock continued his moaning as Sora helped him open the front door. "Close it tightly," he said to Sora, after everyone was inside.

There were many other objects around the room. More than I'd ever seen at the castle. Lamps, desks, dishes…were they all under the spell?

"So what happened?" Goofy asked.

"Well…the Master had been acting strange, lately…for quite a while now…" the clock began. "He and Belle got in an argument, and she left with only her cloak and the enchanted mirror that the Master gave her. Chip…Mrs. Potts' son…he followed Belle and came back here. But the other villagers are planning an attack on the Master!

They think he is a beast! Oh, what should we do? Our Master has locked himself in his room…"

'Well, he is a beast…' Sora thought to himself. 'Do you know what to do?' he seemed to finally remember about Xion and I.

'We should help them…but we can't destroy the people like we can with the heartless,' I replied. 'Maybe you should try to talk to the villagers?'

'That's a good idea,' Sora agreed. Then spoke out loud, "We can go talk to the villagers and try to stop them. Naminé…maybe you should stay here, it might be safer."

"Are you sure that will work?" the clock asked nervously.

"It's worth a try," Sora shrugged. "What is your name, anyway?"

"Cogsworth," the clock gave a slight smile. I'd only Ever seen him worried, so this surprised me a bit.

"I'm Sora."

"Be careful," Naminé told Sora, as he started to turn for the door.

Sora gave his usual care-free grin. "I will."

Then Sora, Donald, and Goofy headed out of the castle's grounds.

-----

The three started down a path in the forest, but eventually came to a fork in the road.

"I knew we should have asked for directions, first!" Donald complained. "So which way are we supposed to go!?"

"Uhh…" But before Sora had time to make a decision, some heartless appeared. Shadows. "This way! Let's defeat these heartless!"

And the three engaged in battle. They managed to take out the heartless fairly quickly, despite having been asleep for a year. Sora led the way down the path, and they finally made it to the village.

But the streets were empty. No sign of villagers teaming up, anywhere.

"Come on, let's look around a bit more," Sora suggested.

After a while they came across an isolated house that was surrounded by countryside. They explored around it a little, but when Sora was passing by the cellar door I thought I heard someone. That 'someone' sounded like she was saying "Is anyone there?! Help!"

'Did you two hear that, too?' Sora asked. He wondered if he was hearing voices, again or something.

'Yeah,' I replied.

'It sounded like…Belle,' Xion noticed.

"Donald! Goofy! Help me get this door open!" Sora bent down and saw that there was a padlock and chain on it. Someone had locked it from the outside. "Belle, can you hear me?"

"Sora?" Belle's voice was muffled.

"Yeah," Sora answered. "Goofy and Donald, too. We're gonna try to get you out."

Sora was really worried. It was…strange, because I remember having felt like that while I had my own body. But…didn't Nobodies have no heart? How could I have felt worry?

"Try to stay away from the door," Sora warned. Donald was about to cast a spell of some sort when more heartless appeared.

"Not again!?" Sora groaned. He summoned his keyblade and the three began to fight off the dark creatures.

When the battle was over, Donald sent a lightning bolt at the padlock to try and break it open.

"I don't think magic is such a good idea," Sora then looked at the giant key in his hands. "But…maybe this sword can unlock it."

He pointed the keyblade at the padlock, and immediately it sprang open. Sora bent down and opened the cellar door to see Belle tied up inside.

Donald and Goofy went inside to untie her, and Sora followed. "What happened?"

"Gaston and the men of the village…they wanted to destroy the Beast. They knew I would try to interfere, so Gaston trapped me here."

"They already left??"

Belle nodded. "I only wish I could've stopped them…"

"We have to go back to the castle," Sora stated. "To help. And Naminé's back there, too…"

"Well we have to hurry, then!" Donald exclaimed.

Sora nodded, and they retraced their path back to the castle. When they arrived, many of the villagers were already starting to retreat.

"Where's the Beast's room?"

Sora asked no one in particular.

'I can take you to it,' I offered.

'Okay.'

Naminé was right inside the doors when I walked Sora in.

"The Beast is…"

"I know," I replied. "We're going to help him. You should hide…it's not safe."

Naminé nodded. "Thank you…Roxas."

It wasn't until I was already running up the stairs that I realized that somehow Naminé knew it was me and not Sora speaking. I decided to think about that later, and just focused on getting Sora to the Beast's room.

Once I did, Sora took control of his body again. He looked around the Beast's room, with Donald and Goofy close behind.

"It's empty…" Then Sora heard a noise outside. One of the statues breaking, it sounded like.

Sora was about to follow, when suddenly the fight came inside. Gaston and the Beast wrestled, one occasionally winning the upper hand for only a few moments before the other took took control.

Belle suddenly came in, out of breath. "Gaston!" she exclaimed in horror. "No!" Before Sora could stop her, she ran up and futilely tried to push him off.

Gaston pushed her away abruptly and she fell to the ground. But this only enraged the Beast. He attacked Gaston with full force, which sent him out one of the windows…but not before he landed a knife into the Beast's side. Though the Beast managed to pull it out, it was obvious that he was in great pain.

Still, the Beast went to Belle's side. He helped her get up, though he was having trouble himself.

"You're hurt…" Belle's voice was filled with worry.

"It's…nothing," the Beast said.

"Well then, you shouldn't mind fighting me again," Gaston was in the room then--had he climbed back through the window?

"Please don't…" Belle pleaded.

Sora then realized that he could defend the Beast. Him and his friends.

Sora summoned his keyblade and faced Gaston, in a fighting stance. Donald and Goofy backed him up. "Leave them alone," Sora demanded.

Gaston chuckled. In a twisted kind of way. "And a kid like you is going to stop me? He's a monster. Monsters need to be destroyed, for our safety."

"He's more than that!" Sora shouted. He ran up and swung his keyblade at the enemy. Gaston tried to dodge, but didn't get away without a scratch. Sora kept attacking, and Gaston was beginning to get worn out. Without a weapon, there wasn't much that he could do.

At the worst time possible, some heartless showed up in the room. "We can handle this!" Donald said. Goofy nodded his agreement, and the two fought off the heartless, giving Sora time to deal with Gaston.

But he didn't have to fight for very long. Gaston got very worn out. "Why do you fight me?" he demanded. "He's the monster!"

"He has a better heart than you do," Sora said. Then he landed one final blow that knocked Gaston unconscious.

Sora turned back to Belle and the Beast--Donald and Goofy had also defeated the heartless by then--and saw that the Beast was staring at his rose. The one that, before, it had seemed like he was protecting.

"No…" he looked shocked. "The final petal…it's…"

Sora looked over at the rose. It had one petal left, one that was about to wilt as the others had.

Belle stroked his face, trying to comfort him. "I'm here. I…love you." She blushed after saying this, as if she were even surprised at herself, but she didn't correct her statement.

"I love you, too."

And the spell was broken.

-----

It's almost impossible to explain what the transformation looked like. But I think we were all glad that the curse on the castle had been broken.

We said our goodbyes outside the castle. "Feel free to come back anytime," the former beast/prince offered. "And…thank you for everything."

"What world are we headed to, now?" Sora asked in a low voice. Naminé was asleep, and Donald and Goofy were almost there.

"We don't know for sure, yet," Dale said.

"We're still looking for a world that we can get into," Chip added. "We'll let you know when we find something."

Sora nodded, and he decided to get some more sleep as well.

-----

_"Roxas,"_ Xion walked up to me, smiling, when the white surrounded us again. "I figured something out!"

_"Uhh…what is it?"_ I asked. _"You seem really excited."_

_"Yeah, even though we're Nobodies…"_ Xion paused. _"But anyway…I found out that somehow we can sleep, while Sora's awake. We don't really get physically tired unless Sora is,__ but when I woke up I felt really hopeful for no reason!"_

_"Sleep?"_ I repeated. Xion nodded. "How?"

_"I don't know…I kinda just willed myself to sleep without taking control of Sora's body, and then I did. I didn't really dream…but I was back in this. Surrounded by white."_ Xion paused. _"Occasionally I saw some of my memories…but anyway…This might not work, but do you think we can take control of Sora's body while he sleeps? Then we could talk to Naminé alone, like you wanted to."_

_"But wouldn't he notice if he didn't dream?"_ I asked. Really, I wanted to find out if we could, but what if something went wrong? And why would Xion feel hopeful if she's a Nobody?

_"I don't know," _Xion answered truthfully. But her smile didn't leave. _"We could try, though. Right now, even!"_

_"So do you want me to try it out?"_ I felt like that was what she was implying.

_"If you want,"_ Xion said.

I did.

-----

It felt weird. It was almost the same as when I was in Sora's mind, but this time it felt like I was in a body of my own. I wished that was true. I wish that I had a heart, too…

Then I remembered what I had actually taken over Sora's body for. To see if it worked, and it did. So I closed me eyes to go back to sleep…

-----

_"How was it?"_ Xion asked, eager for news.

_"It was…well, it worked."_ I wasn't sure what else to say. _"Did Sora show up in this…his mind?"_ That was a weird question.

_"No, I think he was in his dreams,"_ Xion shook her head. _"But now at least we know more about this…weird situation."_

It definitely _felt_ weird.


	17. Day 403 : Training

_((Lucky number 17! (lol, well I like the number 7. Why is Saïx VII? .)_

_Okay so anyway..._

_Thank you all, once again, for the reviews!_

_I hope you'll like this chapter :)._

_(Plus some bonus at the end, you'll read more about that when that comes)_

_Enjoy~!))_

**DAY 403** ~ Training

(Chapter 17)

The next morning we landed at the Coliseum. Apparently Phil had trained Sora here, too.

"Hey, kid. It's been a long time! Hope you've been training during all that time!" Phil said to Sora. Did he treat everyone like that? "Do you want to practice a bit? The games aren't being held, yet."

"Uh…sure," Sora nodded.

"Okay. Tell me when you're ready."

"He sure is…strict about training, isn't he?" Naminé remarked, once Phil was out of earshot.

"Yeah," Sora laughed. "Always has been."

"Heh," Naminé laughed a little bit, too.

Donald cleared his throat. "Is she going to train with us?" he asked, about Naminé.

"I dunno," Sora shrugged. "Naminé, do you want to?"

"Uh…n-no, thank you," Naminé said.

"When are we going in?" Donald crossed his arms. "You can't just stand around talking the whole time!"

"Okay…well, whenever everyone's ready," Sora answered.

'Is it just me, or is Donald being a little rude?' I asked to Sora and Xion, not really expecting an answer.

'He kind of is…I don't know what's bothering him, though,' Sora replied.

"Well, since we're all ready, maybe we should go in," Goofy suggested.

Sora nodded. "All right." He turned to Naminé. "Are you going to come and watch, or do you want to stay out here?"

"I'll come watch," Naminé replied.

The four approached Phil, and he asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yep," Sora nodded.

"Okay," Phil said. "Try to beat the record of breaking 100 barrels in a minute and a half."

They entered the arena and saw that there were already barrels set up.

"Ready…GO!" Phil shouted.

Sora and his friends began attacking the barrels. I remembered doing that back when the organization had sent me to the Coliseum for various missions. I kind of missed those days…

Back when I had Axel and Xion.

Sora and his friends managed to break the record, but they decided to quit for the day.

"So soon!?" Phil seemed disappointed. "What are you in such a hurry for?"

"Uh…we're going to go train against some heartless." It was mostly true, Sora decided.

"Well, alright…" Phil shook his head. "Come back when you're ready for more training, here."

-----

When they got back to the ship, Chip and Dale had some not-so-good news.

"We have to head back to Hollow Bastion," Chip announced.

"One of the engines is going out," Dale explained. "If we don't get it fixed, then we could end up stuck in between worlds."

So we were headed back to Hollow Bastion, instead of getting closer to something more important…like freeing Kingdom Hearts.

I shared this with Xion, when Sora fell asleep that night.

_"Well, more downtime means that we might get a chance to talk to Naminé,"_ Xion said.

_"Maybe…"_ I sighed. _"I really wish that we had our own bodies, again…it's so frustrating, living like this."_

Xion was quiet. Then she put a hand on my shoulder, to comfort me…?

_"I…I agree. It's hard. Life as a Nobody is confusing enough, but…someday, we can get a heart."_

_"But…how?"_

This time, Xion sighed. Then she said, quietly, _"I don't know."_

I wish I could feel true emotions. If I could, I wonder what I would have been feeling then. My mind told me I was scared and sad. Angry, even.

What was the reality?

_((Yeah, this is the short chapter that I said might happen...so here are some bonus parts~ (basically a few or more than a few paragraphs from different characters' points of view)  
_

_The names just point out who's point of view that section is from.))_

•**Xion**•

_((This is what happened just now, in Day 403.))_

Roxas looked so helpless. I knew wasn't, he was just discouraged, but it made me want to wrap my arms around him, to comfort him. I worried about him. Whether I had a heart or not, I worried about him.

But since the both of us were inside Sora, without bodies of our own…how would comforting him be possible?

-----

•**Axel**•

_((This is the last conversation with Axel that happened when they were about to board the train.))_

I was on my way to the top of the clock tower. I don't really know why. It made me…think of Roxas and Xion. Remember them better, I guess.

"I'll always be here to bring you back!" The words I'd spoken about a month ago…did I really mean them? Of course I did. But it didn't seem like I could fulfill my words when I didn't even know if I could remember my two best friends.

Then I saw a group of kids walking by. At first I ignored them, but then I recognized a girl in the group…I did a double take, and it was definitely her.

"Naminé!" I exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"This is Sora, Goofy, and Donald." I already knew that. Why did she bother explaining? Maybe for Sora…"Roxas and Xion are in Sora."

These words caught me by surprise. Roxas and Xion…inside Sora? I didn't know that was possible, or if it was even true. I wanted it to be.

"Roxas wants to talk to you," Sora told me. "But first…what's your name?"

So he didn't remember me. I guess he couldn't keep all of his memories, either. "Axel," I replied. I almost added 'Got it memorized?', but lately I'd questioned memories in general…everyone was forgetting things. Though Roxas, apparently, did remember me…I was glad--or as glad as a Nobody could be--at that.

"I'm Sora," Sora smiled. "Okay, here's Roxas."

"Hey," I said. It was the greeting I normally used with Roxas. And his reply would be…

"Hey Axel," He had Sora's voice, but the personality in the tone was definitely Roxas. I'd missed him a lot. "Anything new with the organization?"

"They haven't officially realized your absence, yet," I informed. They probably assumed that Roxas was still on his mission. "But they're usually not slow about these things…they'll know pretty soon. You should probably get away, quickly…for all of your safety." I didn't want him to. I wanted to be able to talk to them both. But I didn't want them to disappear forever…the Organization might not hesitate in taking Sora out.

"Don't worry, Axel, we will," the tone was…different this time. "It's me…Xion."

"Hey, Xion," I smiled slightly, despite the fact that their voices were all the same kind of creeped me out. "It's been a while…and last time, we were in a battle, weren't we?"

"Haha, yeah." she replied, smiling slightly.

"We should go," Naminé said suddenly entering the concersation. "Sora, take control of your body again. It won't take long for DiZ to realize that I'm not there. We need to leave quickly."

I had started to hate DiZ. His control of Twilight Town…his power over others…I was getting sick of it.

"Okay," Sora nodded. Or at least, I was pretty sure it was Sora now. "Axel, it was nice meeting you." I was right.

"You too." I guessed it was okay to say that. I'd met him earlier before, and that wasn't bad…so I guess it was nice. Though this particular meeting was only nice for the selfish reasons of the fact that I got to talk to my best friends. I decided to also say, "Take good care of Roxas and Xion, for me."

"Alright. I will." Sora promised.

I hoped he would.

-----

•**Sora**•

_((This one's kinda self-explanatory.))_

My life has gotten so weird, lately. First, I wake up in some strange place, with no memory of how I got there at all. Donald and Goofy didn't know, either. A strange girl appeared, and told us to flee.

But she looked so familiar.

We slept in the woods that night, taking turns keeping watch. No heartless attacked, surprisingly…though that kinda adds to this weird stuff going on.

And the next morning I started hearing voices. Or at least, that's what I thought, at first. Apparently there's these people named Roxas and Xion living in my mind, or something like that. They led me back to the girl from he day before.

Her name is Naminé. She looks a bit like Kairi. Maybe that's why I thought she seemed familiar.

I also met a man named Axel. Roxas said that Axel was his best friend. So I let Roxas--and here's the freakiest part--control my body. Xion, too. The three talked until

Naminé suggested that we leave before DiZ finds us.

She mentions 'DiZ' a lot. I'm not sure who that is, but if he's dangerous enough to stay away from then I guess that's a good thing.

Next, we boarded a train that could travel between worlds. So we went to Hollow Bastion, where Leon lives.

Right now, I'm at the 'secret hideout.' Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith are all here. Even Naminé is traveling with us. But there's these weird creatures called Nobodies…

What's going on?

•**Naminé**•

_((Very soon before Sora wakes up, after her conversation with Roxas when she tells him he has three days left. Then on the actual day.))_

We're running out of time. I realized that already. If Roxas doesn't get back soon, Sora's awakening will be delayed even more.

I know that either way, Sora will wake up, and when that happens Roxas will have to…join him. But I'm worried for Roxas. He is losing everything!

DiZ keeps telling me that I need to make sure that Sora wakes up as soon as possible. But when that means ruining someone's life--even a Nobody's--should I listen?Or should I just let things happen naturally?

I have no idea.

-----

Today Sora will wake up. Even if Roxas doesn't come.

But I want Roxas to at least be able to see Sora once before he leaves. I decide to go to the main part of Twilight Town and wait for Roxas, there.

I find him just as he's leaving the Dark Corridor.

I'm scared for him.

_((I think I've been getting farther and farther backward in the story with each of these random things from other people's point of view. I have more, but I think I'll save them for later just in case I need them..._

_And that's the end of this chapter! I hope you liked it! :)))_


	18. Day 404 : The Same Face

_((__*gasp* I've written a lot of chapters!!  
(kinda)_

_Eh...this ones a little bit shorter than a couple of the latest chapters. So you get a small bonus at the end, again ^_^._

_Also, since I'm running out of ideas for Disney Worlds, if you contribute some ideas then that would be helpful! ^_^. I'll credit you..  
_

_Anyywaayyyy...._

_Enjoy! ^_^))_

**DAY 404** ~ The Same Face

(Chapter 18)

Sora woke up about half an hour before arriving in Hollow Bastion. Naminé was still sleeping, so he had to wake her up.

"Naminé," he touched her shoulder lightly. "We're about to arrive in Hollow Bastion. You need to wake up…"

Slowly, she opened her eyes. "What a weird dream…" she said. Then she yawned. "Okay, I'm awake."

Sora couldn't help but smile. There wasn't really a reason for it…but he did. She reminded him a lot of Kairi…

"Sora! Are you coming??" Donald shouted from the exit of the Gummi Ship.

"Oh, uh, yeah!" Sora and Naminé stepped out of the Gummi Ship and back into Hollow Bastion. Everyone headed for the secret hideout.

Sora almost--literally--ran into Yuffie at the entrance.

"Sora!" Yuffie jumped a bit, startled, but then a welcoming smile spread on her face. "Welcome back! So how was your trip so far?"

"It was…pretty good," Sora said, a but overwhelmed by her excitement. "I have to see Cid."

"Oh, he's out working at his shop right now," Yuffie told Sora. "But he should be back on his lunch break, pretty soon. What do you need him for?"

"Dale said that one of the engines on the Gummi Ship is going out," Sora answered. "We'll need to get it repaired."

"Already? How far did you go?" Yuffie teased. "Well, you can stay here for a while, if you want. I was about to go get some food, but you're welcome to come with me!"

"I think we'll stay…some relaxing time would be better," Sora replied.

"Okay," Yuffie smiled. "Well, I'll see ya later!" She ran off, as energetic as usual.

I probably would have sighed if I had my own body. Not really in a bad way, but it's just that before I'd never met a person more energetic than Axel or Demyx.

Maybe it's because she has a heart.

Sora and his friends headed inside and were greeted by Aerith.

"Welcome back," she smiled. "So how was the first part of your journey?"

"It was…okay," Sora replied. "We aren't really any closer to finding King Mickey, or Riku, or Kingdom Hearts and whatever."

"Oh…well, go ahead and have a seat here," she gestured to a group of couches set up around a coffee table, "they'll be at least another 20 minutes."

"Okay," Sora took a seat on one of the couches, and Naminé sat beside him. Goofy and Donald--who seemed to be in a bad mood, again--sat on the other full couch, and Aerith sat in one of the arm chairs.

They talked a bit. Sora asked how Aerith had been for the past year--since they hadn't had much time to talk in the last visit--and explained what he and his friends had done so far, at Beast's Castle and the Coliseum. Aerith asked a few more questions, and then Cid finally arrived.

"You already need repairs!?" he exclaimed, when Sora told him what had happened.

Sora laughed a bit. "Yeah. Guess we should give the ship more of a break, huh?"

"No kidding," Cid murmured, turning and taking a seat at his computer. "I won't be able to get working on it until this evening."

"How long will repairs take?" Goofy asked.

Cid shrugged. "It depends on how bad the damage is."

Sora didn't actually know how bad it was. He'd just taken Chip and Dale's word for it. They hadn't had any problems flying, though…

"I'm back!!" announced a returning Yuffie. Leon came in after her. "Lunch time!"

Everyone sat around the coffee table--the sandwiches didn't take up much of the space--and started to eat.

"So what worlds have you gone to, so far?" Yuffie asked, before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Only the Beast's Castle and the Coliseum," Sora replied.

"Fight any exciting battles?"

"Beast's Castle was a bit interesting," Naminé said. "It was a bit sad, but…it turned out good."

"Wait, what was going on there?" Yuffie laughed. "Tell us the whole story!"

'If you want, I could tell more about Beast's Castle before you woke up,' I offered to Sora.

'Sure!'

"Roxas is going to explain some about Beast's Castle, first," Sora said. "Then we can tell how our travel there went!"

So I spent some time explaining. I told of first exploring the world, some times I'd spent there with Xion, and the things Xaldin had said. They asked for me to explain more about the organization members later, but let me continue with the story.

The last thing I told was about when I had last visited the castle and how Xaldin seemed to be interfering. Then Sora took over, and told of the events that had occurred only a couple days earlier.

We all had a good time.

-----

That evening, they asked me to explain more about the organization. It was weird to have so many people looking to me for some information--I'd always had to ask others. Axel, in particular.

_'What, are you shy about talking in front of them?' _Xion teased.

_'N-no! Of course not!'_

We would have laughed, then, if we had our own bodies.

"So…where should I begin?" I asked the general group of people. We were gathered around the coffee table again, this time with a meal of…pizza.

"What's the Organization's goal?" Leon asked.

"Uh…" I wasn't actually completely sure.

_'Well…something about Kingdom Hearts and completing it,' _Xion told me.

"They want…or really, Xemnas wants to complete Kingdom Hearts," I said.

"But what does that accomplish?" Leon asked.

"I don't really know," I admitted. "Zexion had said that we could get hearts…but I'm not sure if there's anything else to it or not."

"Interesting," Leon commented. "What else did the organization have you do?"

"I had to perform recon at other worlds." At their confused expressions, I explained, "Explore it and gather information. Other than that…we were sometimes asked to eliminate heartless or collect hearts."

"So they must have a lot of hearts by now…" Yuffie said.

"They'll still get more," I told everyone, "as long as Sora is defeating heartless with the keyblade. That's why we need to destroy Kingdom Hearts, quickly."

"Sora…is helping them?" Aerith asked.

"No!" I automatically denied it, as if she'd asked that about me. Though I actually did help them at one point in time… "Not willingly."

"So basically, we have to wrap this up as quick as possible, right?" Leon concluded.

I nodded. Now if only we could figure out how.

-----

Cid had looked at the Gummi Ship later that evening, and said it could be fixed within a couple days. "It would be faster, but I have other work to do," he claimed.

When Sora fell asleep, Xion and I decided to try our idea. She told me to tell her what Naminé says, if she can't hear or see what happens.

It felt really…awkward to be controlling his body. Was it just the notion that I was doing something wrong, or was it because I hadn't had a body of my own in what felt like a really long time? Either way, I felt kind of nervous.

Naminé was sitting on one of the couches, making another sketch. Everyone else was asleep, or something.

"Oh, hi Roxas," Naminé said when she saw me.

"H-…hi. Wait, how do you know it's me?" I asked.

Naminé shrugged. "I guess since I have power over Sora's memories I kind of…just know. Like your presence feels different, or…" she shook her head. "It's hard to explain."

"Oh…" I didn't really get it, but it wasn't that important. "Well, um…Xion and I were wanting to ask you something…"

"What is it?" Naminé looked away from her sketching to give her full attention. Wow, she looked almost exactly like Xion…her face did, at least.

"Um…well, you know Riku, right?"

Naminé nodded. "He worked with DiZ a bit…why?"

"And Sora is searching, and has been searching for a long time, for Riku…" I suddenly felt more conscious of the room, and glanced around to make sure no one else was coming. I didn't hear anything. "Since we've all seen Riku…do you think we should tell Sora that? About where he might be?"

"He could be anywhere…but I see your point," Naminé replied. "I'm not sure…I'm assuming that Sora is asleep right now, or something? He can't hear us?"

I nodded. "We waited until he fell asleep."

"Well…out of all places, Riku seems to stay in Twilight Town fairly often…but that was before Sora awakened," Naminé paused. "But if Riku is still trying to look out for Sora…he might be nearer than we think." That gave me the urge to look around again. "We should probably wait for a while, before deciding anything."

"Okay," I agreed. "We…Xion and I…we thought it would be good to get your opinion…"

"It's good to know different opinions," Naminé commented. "Well…perhaps you should get back to sleep. Since Sora is asleep."

Meaning to return before he woke up, whenever that would be. "You're right," I said. "Thank you for…everything."

I started to turn, and was almost back to the bed room before I heard her say quietly, "I try to be helpful…at least it works a bit."

-----

_"Were you able to listen?"_ I asked Xion._"Or was it the regular white surroundings?"_

_"I could actually listen to the conversation this time," _Xion answered. _"Naminé seems so…wise. Like she always knows what to do…"_

_"Yeah…"_ They both looked so much alike. Almost identical. Why?

_"Are…you okay?" _Xion looked worried. _"You seem…in a kinda bad mood…"_

_"Yeah, I'm fine!"_ I didn't want her to worry. We already had enough to deal with. _"Just thinking about things…"_

_"Okay…if you say so…"_ Xion was reluctant, but I was glad she let the topic slip.

Sora's dreams then came.

**~Bonus~**

•**Saïx**•  
Lea has changed. Axel has changed. Why does he insist on protecting his fake friendship with a keyblade wielder and a mere puppet?

He even goes as far as calling them his 'best friends,' according to Xigbar. Why doesn't Xemnas intervene with this behavior?

It's affecting how well he follows the Organization's orders.

He meddles too much.

-----

•**Xemnas**•

_((I DID write a Xemnas one??? o.o_

_I thought I didn't...oh well. It's really short anyway...))_

Our puppet has finally left. I've sent Saïx to retrieve Roxas, since he has attempted to turn against the Organization. I will not allow that.

Our number XIII has the key to Kingdom Hearts. We cannot afford to lose him. Kingdom Hearts is necessary.

Once it's completed, our work can be finished.

-----

•**Demyx**•

Roxas has been acting really weird, lately. Maybe it was since we found out that Xion is a puppet, but I dunno. He's not himself.

Still, it is hard to take in. Xion's a puppet? She's the most realistic one I've ever met. Xion doesn't seem like one at all! She seems just like the rest of us!

Or is the Organization just lying?

_((That's all the bonus I have written now...so if you get another short chapter in the near-ish future, let's just hope I write more bonus stuff by then...XD ^_^_

_Ideas are helpful from you all, too...;)._

_I hope you liked this chapter~ ^_^))_


	19. Day 406 : The Same but Different

_((I will tell you ahead of time, that this chapter acutally has some minor-ish RokuShi stuff (YAY!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I love the couple XD). But It's not too major.._

_Sorry for not uploading for a while. Actually, I'm sorry about this chapter in general, it's short, a late upload, and...yeah...._

_Enjoy~))_

**DAY 406** ~ Same but Different

(Chapter 19)

It was a couple days before we were back on the Gummi Ship, and those days went by surprisingly fast for not having much to do.

We ended up traveling to Halloween Town. I remembered the last time I'd been there…when I'd still been in my struggle to remember Xion…

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Naminé's outfits changed to help them blend into that world. Sora's outfit changed to all different shades of black and gray with an orange pumpkin on his head. His eyes gained dark circles around them. Donald was wrapped in bandages, and Goofy had on old raggedy clothes. Naminé's dress remained white, but with an added black material wrapped around it with a pumpkin clip holding it in place. A small black hat and black flowers decorated her hair.

I wondered why it only happened to them, and not any organization members, though they looked dark, already. So maybe you only had to look…dark? Scary? I wasn't sure what the costumes were supposed to be like.

Sora saw Jack Skellington making a stack of Jack-o-lanterns on the side of the road, and decided to say hi.

"Oh, hey, Jack," Sora walked up to him. "How have you been?"

"Sora!" Jack exclaimed. "I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah," Sora laughed.

"Ah well…you're just in time for Halloween!" Jack exclaimed. "It's only a couple days away. We're going to make this year's Halloween the best, yet!"

"What are you gonna do?" Sora asked, not knowing what else to say.

"This year's theme is 'Pumpkin Plague'," Jack gestured to the pumpkins he'd stacked. "The whole town will be decorated with them! Many will even have some 'surprises' inside! On Halloween we'll have a giant pumpkin…it will be great!"

"Do you want some help setting up pumpkins? We could help out, if you need it," Sora offered.

"Sure! That would be wonderful!" Jack told Sora where the pumpkins were and Sora led the way--Jack had left to talk to the Mayor.

For the whole day, everyone was working on putting pumpkins around town to decorate. I started thinking about the conversation Naminé and I had a few days before.

Where was Riku? Was he still back in Twilight Town, or was he somewhere else? Would it really matter to Sora that I'd seen Riku, if I didn't know where he was, then?

I had so much to think about. So many questions. I wondered if Xion was thinking about these things, too.

Sora and his friends decided to sleep on the Gummi Ship for the night--they didn't have a place to stay in Halloween Town--and come back the next morning. It didn't take long for Sora to fall asleep--he was exhausted from carrying pumpkins all day.

Xion and I talked, as usual, when Sora slept.

_"So have you thought of whether we should tell Sora about Riku or not?"_ Xion asked. I guessed she had been thinking about it, like I was.

_"No, not yet,"_ I shook my head. _"We should probably wait, like Naminé said…" _I once again thought of how Naminé looked like Xion. Why did it…bother me so much?

Xion looked back at me. _"Are…are you okay?"_ she asked again. _"I know that before you said you were, but…I'm worried about you. You're acting kind of…different."_

_"I'm just thinking about a lot of things,"_ I replied. It was the truth.

_"Like what?"_

Like her. _"Stuff like…this Riku situation,"_ I lied. But it felt weird to. _"And that it's weird being in someone else's mind, and that…you look a lot like Naminé." _I stopped for a moment, trying to think of something else to say. _"Though I look a lot like Sora, too."_

_"You look kind of different, to me,"_ Xion said. _"At first I did think that you looked almost exactly the same, but…I…changed my mind."_

_"Why?"_ I wondered.

_"No reason."_ She kind of just stared at the ground--or whatever the white space below us would be called. I guessed that she didn't want to share the real reason.

_"Oh…"_ I wasn't sure what to say. Xion and Naminé looked the same to me, other than their hair, clothes, and…

Xion was…prettier. I don't know how. But she was.

_"I wish I had a heart,"_ I suddenly said.

_"I do, too,"_ Xion sighed. _"Maybe when this is all over…we can both get hearts."_

_"I hope so."_

I wanted to know what the emotion I was feeling was called.

_((I just realized how short this chapter is D:. But I don't have any bonus material written at the moment x.x. I'm really sorry~! BUT, if you want to, I've written a very random-ish 'Valentine's Day Special' that you can find on if you look at the list of stories I've written. I'm very sorry, and I'll try to make sure I have more bonus stuff next time~!!!!))_

_((I am spazzing myself out because of the RokuShi moment. ROXAS LOVES XION~!!!!!_

_Sorry, I'm a fangirl, please excuse my fangirl~ing~ness. I still don't know if this is going to turn out to be a RokuShi fanfic or not though...))  
_


	20. Day 407 : The Truth

_((I apologize for not updating in a long time -- again._

_I hope that this chapter is acceptable..;_;_

_Uhh...I don't have a day 408 right now, or even started because I can't think of how to start it...but as soon as possible I will start and compltere it! And upload it! ._

_I'm also working on a music vid. If you find UmbraTsuki on Youtube, you can see the WIP/unfinished version of it, if you want :)._

_And now, as always, please enjoy the chapter~))  
_

**DAY 407** ~ The Truth

((Chapter 20~))

The next morning Sora and his friends decided to help set up pumpkins around Halloween Town, again.

But they found a bunch of heartless hiding in the pile of pumpkins.

"More heartless!?" Sora complained. He summoned his keyblade and began to attack, and Donald and Goofy helped.

The more pumpkins they moved, the more heartless seemed to appear. Sora and his friends managed to defeat them each time, but they were beginning to get exhausted.

The heartless were annoying me, too, even though I wasn't exactly the one fighting them. They kept popping up every few minutes or so…

Then, a giant heartless appeared. It wasn't a heartless that either of us had seen before. This Heartless had a giant pumpkin with an emblem on it as its body, and tentacle spider-like legs. It reminded me a bit of the Leechgrave, though they weren't the same.

"Look out! Behind you!" Naminé warned, as one of the tentacles attempted to strike Sora from behind. Naminé didn't have a weapon, but she still attempted to help either by telling where the Heartless would strike next or throwing objects to distract the Heartless.

The Heartless didn't go down easily. It seemed to be able to counter almost all of Sora's attacks, though it wasn't that strong otherwise.

It managed to strike Naminé once. Sora immediately cast cure on her, then struck the heartless as hard as he could.

Finally, the battle was over.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked Naminé.

She nodded. "The cure spell helped a lot…thank you."

Some of the pumpkins got destroyed during the heartless battle. Sora told Jack this, but he didn't mind that much.

"We can get more pumpkins," Jack said. "Hopefully those heartless won't ruin this Halloween, too!"

"So what do we do, now?" Donald asked. "Should we go back on the Gummi Ship?"

"Well…there might be more heartless around. We should probably get rid of 'them," Sora replied.

Donald and Goofy could only agree to that, so the four of them walked around Halloween Town for a bit, looking for Heartless.

'Wait, Sora,' a thought occurred to me. 'Wouldn't it be better to avoid the Heartless? What about Kingdom Hearts?'

Sora hadn't thought about that. 'I…would using magic be better, then?'

'I think so,' I replied. That's what my idea had been when I realized that I needed to free Kingdom Hearts, but I ended up with Sora before I had to use the idea anyway.

Sora and his friends didn't find very many other Heartless, but they were beginning to get exhausted. "We should go back to the Gummi Ship," Sora suggested. "We can sleep there for the night."

_((or whatever night is in HT…))_

-----

On the Gummi Ship, Goofy gave out some snack bags of pretzels that he had gotten in Hollow Bastion. He'd also brought some water bottles.

"These pretzels look really…salty," Naminé commented, as she stared at one in her hand.

"They're good, though. Try one," Sora suggested. It reminded me of when I got Xion to try sea-salt icecream.

She did. "It's…good," Naminé smiled slightly. She thanked Goofy for the pretzels, and the four of them continued eating.

After a while, Donald and Goofy went to sleep--they always seemed to be the first to do so--and Sora felt like he wanted to say something to Naminé…but he didn't know what.

"So…" Naminé and Sora said at the same time. Naminé's face reddened a little bit. "Go ahead," she said.

"No, you can," Sora shook his head. "I didn't have anything important to say, just…"

"Well…" Naminé paused. "I wanted to say…I admire how hard you work to help people. It's really…kind. What were you going to say?"

"I was just wondering…what do you always draw pictures for?" Sora asked. "Of…me and my friends."

Naminé's face reddened, again. Now that I think about it, Xion did that sometimes, too. What did it mean?

"I just…like to draw," Naminé said. "I draw whatever I think of."

So she thinks of Sora a lot? But there were a lot of drawings involving me, as well…or Xion, sometimes. Many people.

Sora seemed to accept the answer. "Okay," he said smiling in his normal easy-going manner.

Pretty soon, Sora fell asleep, too.

-----

_"Have you ever tried 'sleeping', yet?"_ Xion asked. It was a strange question, but I answered honestly, anyway.

_"Not yet," _I admitted. _"I'm still not sure how…"_

Xion laughed a little.

_"What is it?" _I asked her.

_"Nothing,"_ she said smiling. Her face turned a bit redder…I wondered why it happened. _"Anyway…today I slept and I actually had a dream of my own. It's a bit strange…but I think it's pretty cool, that we can dream, here."_

_"What did you dream about?"_

_"It was…"_ Xion looked like she was trying to remember. _"Back when the three of us ate icecream together." _She paused._ "But…he…wasn't there."_

_"Who?"_ I asked._ "Axel?"_

A look of…shock crossed her face. Then worry. _"What…happened?"_ She asked, resting her forehead in her hand. _"I…Axel's name…I forgot it for a few seconds."_

I wasn't sure what to say to that. Maybe she felt similar to the way I did when I realized that there was a friend I was forgetting.

_"What if I start forgetting more?"_ Xion asked, looking back up at me. She started staring at her hands again, afterward. _"What if…I lose myself…"_

I wasn't completely sure what she was talking about. But seeing her like this…for reasons that I couldn't explain, it made me sad.

_"You won't lose yourself," _I tried to assure her.I'm not sure why I did…but I put my hand on her shoulder. For comfort? It felt…natural to do. _"Neither of us will. Even if we forget ourselves…we'll always remember each other, right?" _I hoped so. I had forgotten Xion once. That was something that I never wanted to do again.

_"Right,"_ Xion nodded. _"I'll always remember you, Roxas. You and Axel…you're both my best friends."_

_"I know,"_ I nodded. Then, with a slight smile, _"I'll never forget -- that's the truth."_

Xion smiled and laughed a little at the fact that I had just quoted her. It made me…happy to see her smile. _"I know you won't." _

-----

_((Poor Xion :'(_

_But yay another slight RokuShi moment~ 3))_

-----_  
_

_((This first bit of bonus -- from Axel --is actually slightly important if you wanna know a tiny bit of what's going on in the Organization's side of things~ :D))_

•**Axel**•

_((Ever wondered what he did after the last time we saw him in this fanfic? Here it is~))_

I returned to the castle quickly afterward, not wanting to draw the Organization's attention or anything.

But I guess they had already noticed.

"You're back late," Saïx commented.

I sighed. "What do you want?"

"Roxas is gone. I think you know what the consequence is for leaving the Organization," Saïx stared right at me.

"What, I'm supposed to eliminate him?" I couldn't. "Like you said, he's gone--only Sora exists now." That was only half-way true. Roxas and Xion were still somewhere…but beyond my reach. I wouldn't get to see them again any time soon.

"True, the original keyblade wielder is now back," Saïx said, "but as soon as he's served his purpose, he must be eliminated. You must go and get him."

"What, so you're gonna use him?" Why didn't he ask someone else? Saïx knew I wouldn't want to do this. "Is that all that the Organization does, now? Use others?"

"Silence," Saïx seemed to be getting irritated. Which was kinda funny, considering how he denied that Nobodies could feel anything. "You will do this. You know what happens if you don't, Lea."

Lea. What an old name. And this wasn't even the first time he'd used it since I became a Nobody. "I'm Axel, now," I countered. "Not Lea. Got it memorized?" I continued walking up to my room, wanting to get away from him.

We both knew that I would end up following orders, anyway.

-----

•**Donald**•

I don't have any idea why this 'Naminé' girl suddenly showed up, but she's in the way! All she does is tag along and draw in her sketch book. What does she draw all the time, anyway?

"All for one and one for all." But does that still apply when she's here?

I'm starting to hope not.

_((In other words, Donald's a bit...jealous~))_

-----

•**Xigbar**•

So, Roxas has disappeared. Xemnas announced it this morning. He also mentioned that the mission to 'take care of' the Keyblade Wielder has already been assigned, and that we need not worry.

I'd bet--if I were a gambler such as Luxord--that the mission was given to Axel. He always seems to get the jobs involving them, doesn't he? Even back when Poppet was here causing problems, Axel was given the job of retrieving her.

It's a shame to have to lose both of our keyblade wielders. But, as always, Xemnas probably has a plan for Kingdom Hearts.

As if he would ever give up on it.


	21. Day 408 : Message

_((The longest chapter ever~ so far.._

_I AM STILL ALIVE! IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING~! :)._

_Been doing a lot of art and stuff...if you search for this fanfic on dA you can find me, I think._

_I am VERY sorry for the long delay of this chapter, really ;w;_

_Please forgive me!_

_I wrote a really long chapter to make up for it!_

_Now enjoy~! :]))  
_

**DAY 408** ~ Message

((Chapter 21))

In the middle of the night--or early in the morning--Sora's dreams suddenly turned harsh, changing from the peaceful dreams he had been enjoying.

I couldn't tell where he was in the dream, exactly…but for some reason it looked familiar to me. Everything was mostly dark…the only things that could be seen were the water, strangely shaped rocks, and the ground that Sora was standing on.

"Wh…where am I?" Sora wondered out loud.

"You hold the key that we need," a voice said. Sora looked around, but no one was there. The voice sounded familiar to me, as well..

"The key…?" Sora assumed that he meant the keyblade. "What…what do you want!? Who are you??"

"Come, Sora…you are essential to Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts??" The scene around him faded, and Sora then found himself on top of some kind of stained glass design. Everything else was black. "Huh?"

Sora walked to the edge of the design and found that it was the top of a giant pillar. "I've been here, before.." he realized.

And suddenly I wasn't seeing through his eyes, anymore.

I found myself standing on the other side of the pillar, facing him. "Sora.." I said, on instinct.

"Are you…Roxas?" he asked.

I nodded. Looking at the stained glass design, I noticed that it was of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Naminé, Xion, and I on one side, and on the other…the remaining 6 Organization members.

Then I realized…where was Xion? Why wasn't she in the same place that Sora and I were in?

There was no time to think about it, though. Suddenly, from both Sora and my shadows, a giant heartless appeared. I'd never seen one like it, before.

Sora summoned his keyblade. "Can you summon yours?" he asked.

I found that I could--both of them. I nodded and we both attacked the heartless.

It was…weird. It felt like I knew what moves Sora would make. It made fighting the Heartless easier.

I can't remember any details…the whole fight seemed like a blur. It didn't last long, anyway.

"You've passed…" the mysterious voice said in approval, as the scene changed back to where we were, before--including me going back to seeing what Sora did. "Now…"

The scene around me changed again, to the stained glass pillar. But Sora wasn't there, this time.

_Where is he?_ I wondered. And Xion…

_"Xion!"_ I found myself calling out her name. Everything was so wrong. Where--?

Then I was surrounded by white. I looked around, trying to find Xion, but--

And then Sora woke up. He was panting hard, still thinking about the nightmare he had. When I had been away from him, the dream had shown more of Kairi, more of Riku…and the voice had spoken to him more.

"Come to Twilight Town once again."

"Sora?" Apparently Naminé was awake, too. "Are you okay?" She looked worried.

"Uh…yeah. Just some weird dreams," Sora gave one of his easygoing smiles and leaned back against the seat. He yawned, and closed his eyes for a moment before hearing Naminé speak again.

"It will be a while until morning…so you probably have plenty of time to go back to sleep, again," Naminé said.

"I'll try…" Sora looked at Naminé and gave her another smile. "Thanks."

He fell asleep fairly quickly, still tired and exhausted.

The white surrounded…but I still couldn't see Xion.

_"Xion!"_ I called out again. _"Where--"_

_"You have to calm down,"_ a voice said. It was different from the voice Sora had heard in his dream…though, for some reason it felt like I'd heard this voice some time before, too.

I looked around a bit more, and finally I saw Xion. She was…sitting, staring off into space. Not that there was anything else to stare at, anyway..

_"Xion…"_ I walked up beside her. She slowly looked up at me.

It was…weird. She seemed a bit…different. _"R…Roxas…"_ Xion said. _"Roxas!"_ She stood up suddenly, seeming panicked about something. _"Roxas…you're here now! Everything was so…empty…and I didn't know…but now it's back to normal, right?"_

_"Wh…I'm not sure what you're talking about,"_ it was all so confusing. _"What was empty? And what didn't you know?"_

Xion seemed a bit more subdued when she answered, this time. _"Everything…it was all just…black. I could see…some colored light in the distance. And a giant heartless…I saw people fighting it…I think it was you and Sora…but the darkness was everywhere! It kept me from remembering your names…from remembering you…"_

So she had been…out in the darkness, back then? But…why?

_"How did you get there?"_ I found myself asking.

_"I don't know…"_ Xion sighed, crossing her arms in front of her. _"I thought it was a dream, at first…Sora's dream. But then I realized that I wasn't…in his mind. I was on my own…and I saw Xemnas…"_

_"Xemnas??"_ Was that who the voice in Sora's dream had been? _"What did he say? Did he say anything?"_

_"No,"_ Xion shook her head. _"But I keep feeling like…like I'm losing myself…"_

Her eyes started to…water. Like she was about to cry. I remembered when I did that…how I felt like I was missing too many of my memories…

I don't know why I did, but I put my arms around Xion. It…felt right. Like an instinct. _"You won't lose yourself," _I promised her. I hoped that I was right. _"Remember? We'll always remember each other…I won't forget you." _Not again. _"You won't fade…" _Was I really reassuring her or myself? It felt like a bit of both..

_"I just hope…"_ Xion began, leaning against me just slightly, _"that you're right."_

-----

"Chip, Dale," Sora said, yawning, once he woke up again. "Can we head back to Twilight Town?"

"Why do you want to do that?" Chip asked. "What about Halloween?"

Sora hesitated, knowing that he couldn't tell anyone about the dream he had. "It's alright…but I feel like we should head back to Twilight Town." he glanced at Naminé. "And if we see DiZ, we can leave again."

"Well…okay," Chip started pressing a few buttons on the Gummi Ship.

Soon, we were on our way back to where my life had started.

-----

"Remind me why we came here, again?" Donald complained.

Sora wasn't sure what to tell him. It had only been a dream, but it also felt like more than just that..

"I wanted to come," Naminé claimed. "To see Twilight Town, again." She gave Sora a look, pleading for him to go along with her story.

"Yeah," Sora nodded.

Donald groaned and stared up at the clock tower.

_'I remember when we always used to eat ice cream up there…'_ Xion told me.

_'Yeah..' _If only we could go back to those days.

"Let's go look around for a bit," Sora suggested. The voice had said to come to Twilight Town, but it didn't specify where..

_What if the voice was Xemnas's…_ I wondered. _Then was coming here a bad idea?_

Sora led the way towards the Twilight Town plaza. Naminé seemed a b  
it nervous; she glanced around every few seconds.

"You okay?" Sora asked.

Naminé nodded. "It's just…we need to be careful."

"DiZ, again?" Sora wondered.

Naminé nodded. Then a group of kids, Pence, Hayner, and Olette, walked by. They stopped when they saw Sora and his friends.

"Hey there," Pence greeted. "Are you new, here?"

"Uh…yeah, something like that," Sora answered. "I'm Sora."

"It's nice to meet you," Pence grinned. "My name's Pence."

"I'm Olette," the brunette girl beside him said. "And this quiet rude one is Hayner."

Hayner just scoffed and continuing staring off into space.

"Do you need help finding anything?" Pence asked.

"No, I don't think so.." Sora replied. We just--"

Suddenly the ground shook a but and the air around them seemed to be warped. But Hayner, Pence, and Olette were frozen. A man with some kind of red cloak, and his head wrapped in red bandages, appeared.

"DiZ!" Naminé exclaimed, taking a step back. "But that means we're in…but how??"

"When the four of you flew into Twilight Town," the man, DiZ began explaining, "you came through an invisible portal to the one I have created."

"Wh-who are you??" Sora demanded, getting ready to summon his keyblade. "What do you want??"

Ignoring Sora, DiZ spoke to Naminé. "It seems that Riku did not get rid of you as I asked."

"R-Riku??" Sora was stunned, wondering how DiZ knew him. "Where's Riku?? How do you know him?" Sora demanded.

DiZ simply chuckled. "That is of--" He was cut off by someone else walking up behind him.

It was Axel!

"Well, well, well…this is quite interesting," Axel said. "So what are you planning to do, this time?"

"Axel…" Sora wasn't sure why he said that out loud, but I guessed he could have been influenced by my thoughts. What was Axel doing here?

"Hmph," DiZ, realizing that he was surrounded, began to step away. "I will leave you alone, for now…but I still have complete knowledge of what goes on in my Twilight Town." He disappeared, then, leaving the rest of us to talk.

"Tch," Axel glared at the area DiZ had just been standing in. Then he walked over to Sora and his friends. "Xemnas wanted you to come to Twilight Town. I guess you got the message, then."

"Yeah…" Sora nodded. "But why..?"

Axel shrugged. "I'm just following his orders," he murmured, staring at the ground. I wondered if he was telling the truth or not. "I'm supposed to take you to the real Twilight Town."

"The real one?" Goofy asked. "Whadd'ya mean?"

"This town is a fake," Axel sighed. "Created by DiZ."

"Well then, if this isn't the real thing, how do we get to Twilight Town?" Sora asked.

"Well…" Axel scratched his head.

"What about the Dark Corridors?" I asked, through Sora.

Axel seemed to realize it was me. "They're too dangerous…not all of you would be able to make it through," Axel said, shaking his head.

"Then how will we get there?"

Axel shrugged. "The best thing to do is to leave and try to come back later…" he hesitated before adding, "but do you really want to follow Xemnas's plans? This will give an excuse for delaying whatever Xemnas has planned…but I'm not sure for how long. You should leave, though."

"Leave??" Sora questioned. "But we just got here..!"

"I could force you through the Dark Corridors and into Xemnas's reach, if you want to do this the dangerous way," Axel sounded like he was getting irritated. "Or you could take the chance that I'm giving you. It's your choice." Axel crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, watching Sora.

Sora glanced at his friends. "Well…?"

"We should go," Naminé suggested. "In case DiZ comes back.."

"Right," Sora nodded. "Well, um…thanks, Axel."

Axel just shrugged. "I will always try to help my friends.." he paused for a moment. "Go, now, if you're going to."

"Okay," Sora turned to the others. "Let's go."

That was when the world started moving, again. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were still looking at Sora and his friends expectantly.

"Uh…" Sora didn't know what to say to them.

"Were you looking for something, or anything like that?" Pence asked.

Were they? "No," Sora shook his head. "Thanks."

I noticed Axel disappearing through a Dark Portal. It gave me some sort of…sadness. I wasn't sure why.

"I know you're Sora," Olette said, "but what are the rest of your names?"

"Oh," Sora forgot about introductions. "This is Donald, Goofy, and Naminé."

"It's nice to meet you," Olette smiled politely.

"Hey, do you guys have any plans for today?" Pence asked. "If you don't, then you could come with us. We're just watching Hayner practice for the Struggle battle."

'Struggle battle…?' I asked.

'I have no idea,' Sora responded. I noticed that Xion was still quiet. Was she okay?

"Actually, we do," Donald spoke up.

"Oh…" Pence looked a bit disappointed, but as usual, his cheery mood emerged again. "Hey, have we ever met before, Sora?"

"What? I don't think so…" Sora shook his head. "Why?"

"You just seem a bit familiar, that's all," Pence said.

"Oh." Sora had no idea why.

"Sora," Donald sounded impatient. "We need to get going."

"Yeah," Sora nodded. He turned to Pence and the others. "I might see you around, then," he said.

"Of course," Pence grinned. "We'll see you."

Sora and his friends started walking back toward the clocktower. "They seem pretty nice," Sora commented.

"But they were only copies of the real Hayner, Pence, and Olette," Naminé told him. "They were created by DiZ."

"What do you mean by that?"

"DiZ created a virtual Twilight Town of his own," Naminé said. "Somehow we made it here instead of to the real place."

"It's still a bit confusing, but okay," Sora shrugged. "Where are we supposed to go, now?"

"We might as well just get on the Gummi Ship and see what other worlds we can get to," Donald suggested.

"Yup, maybe we can find out more about Kingdom Hearts," Goofy agreed.

"Yeah. Let's go, then."

-----

After getting on the Gummi Ship, Sora was glad that they were able to escape the digital town.

Chip and Dale said that it wouldn't be until evening that we would make it to the next world, so Sora decided to take a nap. There wasn't much else to do, anyway.

_"Xion, are you okay?"_ I asked, when the white returned. She seemed…as sad as she had been, before.

She looked at me for a moment before speaking._ "I don't know,"_ she shook her head. _"It's just…I started to forget things again, earlier…until I heard your thoughts, I…"_

_"What were you forgetting?"_ I asked.

_"I just…it felt like I was Sora, and not just watching what he sees, unlike before…" _She sighed, then murmured, _"like I really am losing myself…"_

_"If…if I talk to you more often, even when Sora is awake, would that help?"_ I asked. For some reason…I hated seeing her like this.

Xion nodded. _"It might."_

_I hope it does,_ I thought.

-----

The world that we went to this time was some place called Traverse Town. I had seen parts of it before, in Sora's memories, but it was my first time going there.

"Gawrsh…it seems like this place hasn't changed a bit!" Goofy said.

"We haven't even looked around, yet!" Donald reminded.

Naminé giggled a little and looked at the town around her. "It's so calm here…a bit like Twilight Town," Naminé observed.

"Yeah.." Sora agreed.

"Hey, do you think Gepetto still lives here?" Goofy asked.

"Who knows?" Sora shrugged. "Let's go check!"

They walked toward where Gepetto and Pinocchio lived the last time they had been in Traverse Town. Sora knocked on the door, and a fairly old man with glasses opened the door.

"Sora!" he exclaimed, stepping back. "Come in, come in. It's been a long time since I've seen any of you."

"Yeah," Sora stepped inside first, leading the others in. "We've been a bit busy."

"Who's this new friend of yours?" he asked, gesturing to Naminé.

"My name is Naminé," she gave a small smile, introducing herself as they walked to the table in the middle of the room. At the table was a small boy with dark hair--Pinocchio.

"Pinocchio!" a voice that I had never heard exclaimed. A tiny person jumped from Goofy's shoulder and ran across the table to the boy.

'Who's that?' I asked Sora.

'That's Jiminy Cricket,' Sora explained. 'He's kept records of all of our travels.'

I remembered seeing Jiminy in a few of Sora's memories…but he hadn't appeared much since Sora woke up.

"Have you been a good boy?" Jiminy asked Pinocchio.

"Yes, I have," Pinocchio nodded enthusiastically. "I haven't told a lie, honest!"

At that, his nose started to grow a little. Pinocchio looked back and forth between his nose and Jiminy, and smiled nervously.

Jiminy shook his head. "Now, you know you're not supposed to tell lies, Pinocchio."

"I'm sorry," Pinocchio hung his head.

"So what are you kids up to?" Gepetto asked, setting a plate of sandwiches on the table in front of everyone.

"Not much," Sora took a bite of one of the sandwiches. "Just decided to visit Traverse Town."

"Do you four have a place to stay for the night?" he asked. "Because if you don't, you could stay here. It's not much, but I imagine it's better than sleeping outside."

"Oh, that would be great!" Sora nodded. "Thank you."

"Any time," Gepetto said. He turned away from the table and started to work on something on the other side of the room.

"Do you think we could go look around a bit?" Naminé asked. "I think this town looks…really nice."

"Sure," Sora smiled. "We can go for a walk after dinner. Donald, Goofy, do you want to come?"

"Yup," Goofy nodded. "Of course!" Donald just mumbled something incoherent that I couldn't hear at all.

"Okay," Sora grinned. "So where will we go?"

-----

They ended up going to the Second District of Traverse Town, first.

"Wow," Naminé marveled at the scenery. "It's so beautiful.."

They were walking along the wall of shops toward the Gizmo Shop when suddenly something teleported in front of them.

Or some one.

It was Xigbar!

"Well, what are four kids like you doing out here at night?" Xigbar questioned, grinning.

"We're not kids!" Donald argued loudly, even jumping up.

"As if," Xigbar laughed. "To us Organization members? You're all vulnerable children."

"Shut up!" Sora said.

Xigbar looked toward Sora. "The Keyblade wielder…" he mused. "You're so much like Roxas.."

"That's not true!" Sora denied. "We're different! We--"

Xigbar chuckled. "On the contrary, you two are much alike. In fact, I get the same feeling talking to you that I do with Roxas."

"Feeling??" Donald exclaimed. "Nobodies can't feel!"

"That's what everybody says," Xigbar nodded. "So you tell me, what else do I call this?"

Donald was speechless. He couldn't think of anything. And I couldn't, either.

Xigbar…he was one of the few Organization members that I often felt like I could trust. He could see through lies…but unlike Saïx, he didn't seem to be a jerk about it.

"I told you," Xigbar smirked. "And now what I was sent here for…" Xigbar flicked something at Sora and he caught it, quickly. It was an envelope.

"See if you can recognize it," Xigbar said. "Xemnas said that 'Roxas will know what it means.' As if, but those were my orders…see ya, kid!" With that, Xigbar disappeared through a Dark Corridor.

"What did he mean by that..?" Sora wondered.

"Why don't ya open the envelope?" Goofy asked.

"Okay," Sora nodded. He opened it up and inside was an ice cream stick with the word 'WINNER' on it.

_'Axel!' _Xion and I both thought at the same time.

_'What does this…is Axel in trouble??'_ I was becoming a bit…scared?

"Oh, it's just some stinkin' trash," Donald complained. He was about to snatch it away, but I took over Sora and held it out of Donald's reach.

"No!" I said. "This is something that I…I mean, Roxas gave to Axel. But why do we have it, now..?" I relinquished control of Sora so that he could respond to whatever anyone would say next. I didn't like controlling his body…but I couldn't have let Donald do anything to the envelope.

It was like a container of memories that I had from the Organization.

"Is there anything else in that?" Goofy asked.

Sora shrugged and opened the envelope, again. "There's…some note in here."

"Well, read it!" Donald said impatiently.

"It says…" Sora pulled the note out and unfolded it. "'We may have found a traitor. Keep an eye on him, Saïx.' And it has some kind of symbol here…"

'That's the Organization's symbol,' I recognized. 'Saïx…it must be a note from Xemnas!'

"A note from Xemnas…for Saïx…? But why…?" Sora didn't understand why Xemnas wanted him to see a note written for Saïx.

"Maybe it's not really meant for him," Naminé suggested. "Maybe…it's a trap?"

"But what are we supposed to do with it??" Sora put the contents of the envelope back and stuck it in his pocket. "Axel isn't really a friend of mine, or anything…"

"He's a friend of Roxas and Xion," Naminé reminded.

"So what, are we supposed to try to help Axel or something? It only suggests that he's a traitor."

"It's not that simple.." Naminé shook her head.

"'Traitors are eliminated'," I said, through Sora. I wasn't sure where I had heard that before, if I had even heard it anywhere, but those words came to mind.

_"You can't turn on the Organization! You get on their bad side, and they'll destroy you!"_ His words played through my mind. _'Axel..'_

"So Axel's in trouble?" Sora asked.

"It seems like that's what Xemnas wants us to think.." Naminé sighed. "Let's head back to Gepetto's house. We can think about this more in the morning."

"Yeah," Sora nodded, agreeing. "Let's go."

-----

Later that night, when Sora slept, Xion and I talked about the note more.

_"What do you think it means?"_ Xion asked. I could see fear in her eyes…was she as scared as I thought I felt?

_"I don't know,"_ I sighed. _"I hope Axel is okay…"_

Xion was quiet for a moment. _"So…you left that for him when you left the Organization?"_

_"Yeah…"_ I nodded. _"But how do you--"_

_"When I dream," _Xion explained, _"sometimes some of your memories come to me. It's like they all mix together, now that we're in Sora's mind…I'm not sure why. But the memory of that…it was only earlier today that I found out about it."_

_"Weird…"_ I wondered how things could happen like this. _"Do you think that we're supposed to go help him?"_

Xion shrugged. _"I have no idea."_ She smiled slightly._ "But wouldn't that be an interesting change? Us saving him, rather than him helping us out. I think he can take care of himself okay."_

That made me smile, too. _"Yeah." I hope._

-----

_((In addition to this fairly long chapter, to make up for the very long delay of this, you get TWO bonus sections--the conversations with Axel and Xigbar, each from their point of view. I know last time there were three bonus, but I think this is longer. Enjoy!))_

•**Axel**•

I happened to get another 'icky job,' soon. Apparently Xemnas had wanted Sora and his friends to come to Twilight Town…but they ended up in some digital town that DiZ had made.

Saïx was going to try to get me there through some kind of machine. He didn't know whether it would work or not, but said there wasn't enough time to check.

"Do you really want to do this?" he asked, his hand hovering over one of the keys on the computer.

"It's not like I get a choice," I responded. "But I think…I actually do." I wanted to see Roxas and Xion again, even if it was only through Sora that I could meet them.

Saïx typed a few more equations into the computer. "Tell me when you're ready."

"I'm always ready," I teased, grinning. My eyes may have been fooling me, but I thought Saïx almost smiled.

"Report back when you're done." He pressed one of the keys and I was immediately teleported into Twilight Town.

_Digital Twilight Town,_ I corrected myself. But it looked exactly the same. I saw some man dressed in red up ahead of me, and across from him…Sora and his friends.

I walked up closer. It really was them!

"Well, well, well…this is quite interesting," I said. Many things. The town, the fact that they were all there… I remembered the man from Castle Oblivion. DiZ, wasn't it? "So what

are you planning to do, this time?"

"Axel…" I heard Sora say. No, was it Roxas? It was close to impossible to tell, but…

"Hmph," DiZ took a step back, turning slightly so that he could see me. "I will leave you alone, for now…but I still have complete knowledge of what goes on in my Twilight Town."

He disappeared in a flurry of numbers, or something.

"Tch," I resisted the urge to break something. Walking toward Sora and his friends I said, "Xemnas wanted you to come to Twilight Town. I guess you got the message, then."

"Yeah…" Sora replied. "But why..?"

"I'm just following his orders," I shrugged, and stared at the ground. "I'm supposed to take you to the real Twilight Town."

"The real one?" One of Sora's friends asked, the taller one. "Whadd'ya mean?"

A sigh escaped my lips. Why was I the one who got stuck with this job? "This town is a fake," I explained. "Created by DiZ."

"Well then, if this isn't the real thing, how do we get to Twilight Town?" Sora demanded. It reminded me of Roxas, that last day..

"Well…" I scratched my head, unsure. Xemnas hadn't actually covered that.

"What about the Dark Corridors?" It was Sora's voice, but I immediately thought of Roxas.

"They're too dangerous…not all of you would be able to make it through," I shook my head. The only ones I actually cared about there were Roxas and Xion.

"Then how will we get there?" it was definitely Sora, this time.

I shrugged. Was I supposed to know everything? "The best thing to do is to leave and try to come back later…" I paused. Should I keep them safe, even if it betrays Xemnas's

orders a bit..? "But do you really want to follow Xemnas's plans? This will give an excuse for delaying whatever Xemnas has planned…but I'm not sure for how long. You should leave, though."

"Leave??" Sora seemed surprised at the suggestion. "But we just got here..!"

"I could force you through the Dark Corridors and into Xemnas's reach, if you want to do this the dangerous way," I would never do that. But Sora was being so stubborn.. "Or you could take the chance that I'm giving you. It's your choice." I crossed my arms, leaning against the wall behind me and watched Sora for a reaction.

Sora looked at his friends. "Well…?"

"We should go," Naminé spoke up. "In case DiZ comes back.."

"Right," Sora nodded. "Well, um…thanks, Axel."

I shrugged again. "I will always try to help my friends.." Roxas and Xion. "Go, now, if you're going to."

"Okay," Sora turned back to his friends. "Let's go."

Then Digital Twilight Town left its frozen state. I watched as Sora and his friends, and some of the Twilight Town civilians, conversed for a while before deciding that I wasn't going to get anything else done. I turned and opened up a Dark Corridor, going back to the Castle That Never Was.

"You failed?" Saïx asked.

"I'd like to see you try to do that," I retorted sarcastically. I left the computer room and headed up to my own, exhausted. I didn't want to deal with anyone.

When I got there I immediately looked for the envelope Roxas had left on his last day in the Organization. I wasn't sure why, but…I wanted to see it.

I was shocked when I realized what had happened. _It's gone…_ I had looked in every place in the room and couldn't find it. _But where..? Where would it be?_

I sat down on my bed and stared at Kingdom Hearts. "You are the one that causes all this trouble, aren't you?" I glared at the giant moon-like heart. It was useless, but I had something to blame.

The envelope was gone. It was one of the last things I had to remind me of my only two friends of the Organization..

The ones that were now gone.

-----

•**Xigbar**•

A second mission for that day. Go to Traverse Town and deliver this envelope to Sora.

I was told not to look inside, but when ordered something like that, who wouldn't?

It was only an icecream stick and some piece of paper that I didn't bother reading. I knew that Axel, Roxas, and Xion had met on the clock tower for ice cream often--that was no secret. But still, what would this be important for?

I still followed orders, though. I waited on the rooftops of some of the Second District buildings. When I finally saw the kids, I teleported down in front of them.

"Well, what are four kids like you doing out here at night?" I asked them, grinning.

"We're not kids!" One of Sora's friends jumped up, yelling.

That made me laugh. "As if. To us Organization members? You're all vulnerable children."

"Shut up!" Sora yelled. He seemed so much like Roxas…immature, but…I didn't want to scold him about it too much.

I turned toward him. "The Keyblade wielder…" I said out loud."You're so much like Roxas.."

"That's not true!" Sora immediately shook his head. "We're different! We--"

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "On the contrary, you two are much alike. In fact, I get the same feeling talking to you that I do with Roxas."

"Feeling??" his short friend asked, again. "Nobodies can't feel!" As if. Whenever I looked at Roxas, or now at Sora, I felt the need to…defend him.

"That's what everybody says," I nodded, agreeing about that. "So you tell me," I challenged. "What else do I call this?"

He said nothing.

"I told you," I smirked. "And now what I was sent here for…" I pulled the envelope out of my pocket and flicked it at the kid.

"See if you can recognize it," I told him. "Xemnas said that 'Roxas will know what it means.' As if, but those were my orders…see ya, kid!" I then summoned a Dark Portal around me and returned to the Castle. My work was done.

But what was it done _for_?

_((I just realized that Roxas said he'd talk to Xion more but he didn't, yet, in this chapter...he will next time though xP._

_I hope you liked this! It was like, 10 pages on the word processor XD))  
_


	22. Day 409 : Destiny Islands

_((Hey~! I'm updating a day late, at least...sorry D':._

_I decided that I will update at least once a month. And the deadline I've given myself for each month is the 18th._

_However, I'm thinking about putting this story, **Remembering XIV**, on hiatus for a while. Meaning I won't update it during that time. Because I really need to get **Last Whispers** caught up to this, because I've realized that it will soon be important to..._

_I can't give away the reason, though. It's a spoiler ;D._

_So anyway.._

_I haven't decided whether it really will be on hiatus or not. Check my deviantART, username there is **Aroselia**, if you want to find out. I'll put it on my dA ID for you. Or, you could also send me a PM here._

_It's a short chapter this time, again ;m;. But I've thought of ideas for the next chapter, and a few ideas for further chapters, with the help of **Riayna Darkheart** ((Thank you for everything!)). So the future chapters might turn out better, and more interesting._

_In any case, I'll leave you alone now so you can read the chapter! Enjoy~!))_

**DAY 409 **~ Destiny Islands

Another nightmare. I wasn't sure why Sora kept having these…but it scared me a bit, too. Why Sora kept having these nightmares, I didn't know. It all became a blur.. I remembered seeing the stained glass place, again. But this time we kept seeing people that Sora had seen, before…this time they told him to go back to Destiny Islands, rather than Twilight Town.

Sora immediately worried about the islands. About all his friends back there. About Kairi.

And then the dream took him there. Kairi was standing not too far, staring out at the sea. She looked different than she had, before. Her hair was longer, and her outfit was a salmon-pink and white dress. Still, by her auburn hair and sea-blue eyes, Sora could tell it was her. "Kairi!" he called to get her attention. "S...Sora!" Kairi, startled, looked toward Sora.

"You're here!" "Y-yeah," Sora nodded. "I'm here...but it's--" "A dream, right?" Kairi finished. "I'm dreaming, too." She fell silent, suddenly. It seemed like she was worried about something..

"What's the matter?" Sora didn't care if it was a dream, but he didn't like seeing Kairi that...worried. It was the same as how I felt about Xion..

"A man came yesterday," she began. "He...wore a long black coat. I don't know his name, but.."

"What did he say?" Sora asked. He suspected that it was an Organization member, and so did I.

"He...he told me that you needed to come to Destiny Islands," Kairi sighed. "I don't know why..."

"Did you see what he looked like?"

She shook her head. "His hood was up the whole time. But, Sora, I'm scared...he said that if you didn't come, the Islands would be in danger.." This shocked Sora.

"Kairi, I promise.." he was about to put a hand on her shoulder, when Xion cried out..

'N-no!' Xion sounded weak, but her voice was enough to stop the action. 'Stop!'

Suddenly Sora woke up, pulled out of his dream. He felt...angry, though. "Kairi...she was right there!" He sighed in frustration. He had felt so close to her...felt like she was right there..

----

Sora looked around, seeing all of his friends around him, snuggled up in the blankets Geppetto had provided. Silently, Sora tiptoed around them so he could get outside. He needed some fresh air.

_'Xion,' _I thought so that only she could hear. _'What happened...?'_

_'I felt like...being around Kairi...it drained me a bit,'_ Xion explained. _'I have no idea why...I just knew that if he made contact with her...it...'_ She couldn't finish--because she didn't know how to explain it. All I knew was that something weird was going on.

Sora stared at the sky outside, wondering if any of those stars was actually the world he was from.

"Sora," he heard someone behind him say. It was Naminé. "Do you know what we are going to do about Axel?"

Sora had almost forgotten the envelope. "No," he answered, shaking his head. "But listen...I think we have to go to Destiny Islands."

"What for?"

"I had a dream...and everyone kept telling me to go there." Sora explained.

"Hm.." Naminé paused. "It's just a dream, though, right?"

"Yeah...I guess.." Sora still wanted to go. But Naminé was right--why listen to figments of his imagination?

_'Xion,' _I needed to ask her something again.

_'Y...yeah?'_

_'You weren't in the Darkness during this dream...right?'_

_'For part of it, I was..'_ she replied._ 'But...nothing happened, or anything. I was just...there.'_

_'What part..?'_

_'When we saw Kairi.'_

Sora and his friends decided to exterminate Heartless for the rest of the day. None of them knew what to do about the envelope thing, but decided that it was best not to rush into things--especially if it was a trap.

They walked around Traverse Town, fighting mostly Shadows—not much else seemed to show up. Most seemed to be centered around Third District.

I kept wondering about the dreams. Why did it feel like...everything was connected?

And what about Axel? Had he really been labeled as a traitor...? And turned...

No. That wouldn't happen, would it? I couldn't imagine Axel being...gone.

"Hey, Sora," Donald walked in front of him to get his attention. "What're you daydreaming about?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked a few times. Then he gave a nervous laugh. "Oh, I didn't realize I was daydreaming.."

"Well, anyway," Donald sighed. "Let's head back to Geppetto's. We've cleared out most of the Heartless, now."

"Oh, alright," Sora nodded. The three walked back toward Geppetto's house, a soft, cool breeze blowing in their faces. It reminded him a bit of the breeze back at Destiny Islands...

_I have to go back there, don't I..? _he wondered. _Kairi..._

But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a trap. That something bad would happen..

What was it?

----

Sora fell asleep quickly after dinner. It gave me time to talk to Xion, again.

_"Roxas.." _she began, _"I don't think...I don't think we should go to the islands."_

_"Why not..?"_ I asked. Because Sora felt such a connection to them, I had been beginning to wish to go, myself. And I knew Xion liked the ocean..

_"It's just...during the dream...I felt more...faded when Kairi appeared, right?"_ I nodded, and she continued. _"But what if...it was real? What would happen if we really saw her..?"_

She looked so worried...scared...I wished that I could comfort her somehow. But how could I?

_"I'm sure it's just a dream,"_ I tried reassuring her. _"Not real.."_

_"But let's just say that it _was_ real!"_ She seemed to be getting...desperate? _"What...what would I do?"_

_"We'd figure it out,"_ I promised. _"Don't worry."_ I tried to give a reassuring smile.

It worked a little. _"Thanks,"_ Xion smiled at me. _"I'm glad I can count on you."_

_----  
_

_((Yeah, sorry for the short chapter. But now you get short parts from Naminé and Kairi's points of view~!))_

•**Kairi**•

It had been around a month since I finally remembered Sora's name. A dream helped me remember it.

I sent him a letter, in a bottle...by tossing it into the ocean. I don't know how, but I knew he'd find it.

But nothing could have prepared me for what happened later. A month later.

I decided to visit the minor island again--it had been so long since I went there. I crawled through to the secret cave. All the drawings on the walls...the memories...I missed Sora so much. Riku, as well. I cried.

That was when I suddenly heard a voice behind me.

"Sora will be arriving soon," the voice said. I turned around and saw someone wearing a zipped-up cloak with a hood. He looked...mysterious.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked, staying suspicious. Still, his words seemed to give me some sort of...hope.

"It is required," the man answered. "We will tell him that he needs to, and he will. Or, you will tell him."

"I...how would I??"

"It _is_ possible," the man chuckled. "And I am certain you'd want to save your island." Then, in a flurry of some kinda of dark magic, he disappeared.

I walked up to the spot where he had been standing and, instinctively, bent down to study the ground there. It was normal. It's not like I hadn't seen weird...magic before, but...the man's words...sounded like a warning.

----

When I went to sleep I had a dream of Sora. I had just been watching the sea, waiting for something...for my friends' return..

And I heard him.

"Kairi!" I heard from behind me.

I turned and saw his spiky brown hair, his blue eyes.. "S-Sora!" I exclaimed. "You're here!"

He nodded. "Y-yeah...I'm here...but it's--"

"A dream, right?" I asked. "I'm dreaming, too." Then I remembered what the man had said...that Sora would return...

"What's the matter?" Sora looked at me, a bit worried. I decided to tell him the truth.

"A man came yesterday," I started. "He...wore a long black coat. I don't know his name, but..." I trailed off, wondering what else I could say about it.

"He...he told me that you needed to come to Destiny Islands." No, that wasn't right. He said Sora _was_ coming. "I don't know why..."

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"His hood was up the whole time," I shook my head. "But, Sora, I'm scared..." I admitted. "He said that if you didn't come, the Islands would be in danger.." When did he say that? Wasn't it only...hinted at? I couldn't remember. "Kairi, I promise.." he began, but suddenly I was ripped out of the dream, into another. Away from Sora. I lost him, again.

•**Naminé**•

I couldn't sleep well that night. So I decided to draw.

When I draw...I don't really think about what I'm drawing. Things just...come to me.

So it shocked me to see what I ended up drawing that night.

It was Sora, back on the Island, reaching for a more mature-looking Kairi. She was also trying to reach him, while she disappeared into a portal of some sort..

What did that mean? I felt a bit of jealousy toward Kairi, who would always have Sora..

I was the one who first replaced Sora's memories of Kairi with my own. And I was also the one who put them back to normal. Which one was I regretting, now?

I decided to go talk to Sora. Maybe it would help me get my mind off of things.

I was so wrong.

"Sora," I greeted, when I saw him outside. "Do you know what we are going to do about Axel?"

"No," Sora turned to face me, and shook his head. "But listen...I think we have to go to Destiny Islands."

The picture. Was it going to happen? I felt more jealousy... "What for?"

"I had a dream," Sora explained, "and everyone kept telling me to go there."

"Hm.." I tried to act normal. Tried to hide my feelings. "It's just a dream, though, right?"

"Yeah...I guess.." Sora nodded slightly.

I felt a bit bad for holding him back. But I had my own selfish reasons, as well. Everyone seems to be selfish, sometimes.

Kairi was lucky. At least she was _somebody--_someone who truly existed. She had much that I could never have.

I wanted, at least, to be able to enjoy my time with Sora.


	23. Day 410 : Back, Again

_((Late update again, I apologize...=_=_

_Um...wow. I haven't gotten around to replying to individual reviews yet, but thank you all~. Though I had to re-read that last chapter and found so many mistakes...o.o. I'll fix them ASAP. I'll also try to look over future chapters, including this one, more carefully..._

_This is somewhat short, I think, but major stuff happens so please bear with me!_

_And I figured out how to use page breaks...well, I never tried before. That may make things easier :3.  
_

_Enjoy~))_

**Day 410** ~ Back, Again

No nightmare. But then again, Sora didn't dream at all on this night.

It was...strange, to say the least. Still, the fact that he wasn't dreaming meant more time for Xion and I to talk. If we could think of anything to talk about in the first place.

_"What will we do?"_ Xion asked.

_"Hm...?"_ I wasn't sure what she was talking about, exactly.

_"About...Axel."_ She turned and looked off, staring into space. Of course, that's all that there _was_ to stare at.

_"I don't know,"_ I answered honestly, shaking my head. _"I still can't think of anything."_

Xion sighed. _"If he...if they really think he's a traitor...do you think that they'll-"_

I"No."/I My reply was instant, more of a denial than anything close to an answer. My mind would never be able to accept it. I would never be able to accept if Axel was...gone. I'd already thought it had happened once before-before Axel got back from Castle Oblivion.

He couldn't be gone.

_"It's just..."_ I tried to think of something else to say. _"He can take care of himself, right? He wouldn't get destroyed.."_

Both Xion and I looked at one another. In her blue eyes I could sense all the same thoughts I was feeling-all the same 'emotions.' Fear, for Axel. Confusion. Anxiety. And...hope.

Slowly, finally, Xion nodded._ "He can."_

It seemed silly that we were both reassuring ourselves and one another of something that might not even be true. But it was the only way we could get through this-and I had promised her that we would.

I couldn't break that.

_((Okay I'm not 100% certain that I've actually had him verbally make that promise *is forgetful*. But with all the reassurances...at the very least, it's an unspoken promise, I'd say.))_

___

* * *

_

After that we decided to talk about some of the mission's we'd gone on in our life with the Organization. As connected to all this as it was, it somehow made us forget our current troubles. We just kept remembering things. Remembering our past.

Then, finally...Sora woke up.

He yawned and stretched, forgetting for a moment where he was—but instantly he remembered, as soon as he realized his surroundings. Donald and Goofy were already awake, their voices could be heard in the next room. Naminé, however, was still sleeping soundly.

Sora noticed how...peaceful she looked. And, though he was reluctant to admit this to himself, she was pretty. Her pale blonde waves of hair perfectly framing her sleeping face; her eyelashes long and graceful-looking.

She reminded him a lot of Kairi.

Sora quietly went into the next room to join his other friends, making sure not to wake Naminé in the process. When he walked over to the table, he saw that Donald and Goofy were arguing over who had gotten the larger pancake for breakfast-both their meals half-eaten in front of them.

"Hey, guys," Sora greeted through another yawn. "What's up?"

"Good mornin', Sora!" Goofy greeted. "We were just discussin' that Donald got a bigger pancake!"

"Did not!" Donald shouted in denial. "Yours is! It's not fair, you know that!"

They continued this, and Sora just ignored them as he took a seat across from the two at the table. Geppetto had a small smile on his face as he gave Sora his breakfast.

Sora, suddenly realizing how hungry he was, quickly thanked him and began eating.

Because Donald and Goofy were still arguing, Sora finished up before both of them. Around this time, Naminé came in, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Sora decided that this was the perfect time to announce his plan-to go to Destiny Islands.

"Hey, everyone," he sat up straight so that he could speak loud enough for everyone. "I know where we should try to go, next!"

All heads turned to look in his direction.

"Where?" Donald asked, before anyone else could.

"Destiny Islands," Sora tried to say this calmly, though he began to feel anxious, feeling as if he needed to go there.

"Why do ya think we should go there, Sora?" Goofy questioned. His tone was as light as usual, but I wondered if he would try to stop Sora from going there, or something..

Sora shrugged. "I just...I have a feeling that's where we should go. That's all."

"Well, I don't see any problem with it.." Jiminy suddenly voiced, appearing from somewhere across the room where Pinocchio was. "Who knows-maybe if Sora's heart is connected to that place, and he thinks we should go...it might be a good idea."

"Connected?" Sora asked.

"Think about it, Sora," Jiminy began. "You spent your childhood there. It's where you met Riku and Kairi. Your home. It would make sense if your heart had a strong connection to that place."

"Hm..." What Jiminy was saying made sense, but Sora had never thought about that before.

"So, when do we leave?" Donald asked.

Sora's grin returned. "Let's go!"

* * *

Chip and Dale informed Sora that it might be slightly difficult for them to get to Destiny Islands-but that they'd try.

After many hours, we were finally able to reach our destination.

Sora could barely believe that he was actually there, back, again, on the islands. And this time, it wasn't a dream.

He walked along the edge of the water watching the tide come and go, and enjoying the breeze that slightly tousled his hair. He took a deep breath of the sea-salty air and murmured just two simple words- "I'm home."

And they felt completely true. Even to me.

_'It's so pretty...'_ Xion observed, as Sora looked out at the ocean.

He saw the main island out there, as well, and wondered if Kairi was there, or if she was somewhere on the same island as he was.

He didn't have to wonder for very long.

"S-Sora!" Kairi's voice came from behind him. Sora turned and saw her exiting the secret cave. At first she was walking, but after a few steps she broke into a run, coming quickly toward Sora.

She stopped a few feet away, and paused, staring at Sora.

"It's...it's really you, right?"

Sora nodded. Suddenly he found himself in her arms, being hugged.

The moment they touched, though, I heard Xion cry out a bit.

_'Xion!'_ I hoped she was okay. I remembered what she said about Kairi in the dream..

_'I'm...fine...'_ her voice sounded a bit strained.

Kairi eventually let go, and stepped back to look at Sora, again. "You came.." she said.

"Yeah.." Sora was still a bit dazed. He was seeing her for real, for the first time in a long time.

The two simply stared at one another for a few more moments. I noticed how Kairi's eyes, Kairi's face...they reminded me of Xion.

Like Naminé.

Suddenly, a shout came from Donald, who was a few yards down the beach.

"Sora! Look out!" Donald was jumping up and down, pointing at something that was on the dock.

A Dark Portal was there. Some kind of Dark Portal. I wondered what was happening, but then...

Axel stepped out.

First I felt relief, but then...confusion. Something was off.

He teleported over, closer to Sora and Kairi. "Kairi," he said in a seemingly urgent voice, barely sparing a glance at Sora. I knew something was...wrong. "You need to come with me."

"What...?" Kairi automatically took a step back, away from him. "Who are you?"

"My name's Axel," he declared. "Got it memorized? Now...I'd love to stay and chat, but that isn't exactly an option."

"Wait.." her eyes drifted to the Organization cloak that Axel was wearing, then back to his face. "You...were you the one who told me Sora would come?"

Axel chuckled. "No, I wasn't. But I think I know who you're talking about-and he is the one who's the reason I had to come here and get you." Axel took another step forward, causing Kairi to step back, and Sora to step forward more in-between the two.

Axel shook his head. "Sora, Sora, Sora..." he scratched his head. "Almost like that time...huh..."

"What do you want!" Sora asked, defensive of Kairi.

"We need the princess," Axel stated. "Or so the big man says...in any case..." I was shocked as I saw him summon his Chakrams. "If you won't move, I'll have to take her by force."

Sora summoned his Keyblade. "What's your problem...!" Sora demanded. "Just a few days ago, you-"

"Well, well, well, Sora, have you heard of something called..." he lunged forward to strike Sora, first, "change!"

Sora blocked his first attack, but Axel kept attacking. The next time he blocked, the Chakrams got stuck, intertwined somehow with the Keyblade.

"It's always around, Sora," Axel said. "Get it memorized." Suddenly a flame protruded from the Chakrams, crawling up the Keyblade, almost reaching Sora's skin before Sora dropped his weapon.

Axel used that as a chance to knock Sora aside, then quickly teleported behind Kairi and grabbed her around the waist. She yelped in surprise and he put a hand over her mouth to silence her.

Sora rushed forward, trying to grab Kairi, but Axel opened a Dark Portal. But because Kairi was struggling, he couldn't teleport instantly, it seemed..

Axel was suddenly distracted by a shield flying toward him. He instantly countered this with a flame, then, to prevent further interference, put a wall of fire around Sora and himself. "Now your friends can't be a bother.." He slowly began to disappear into the Dark Portal, taking Kairi.

_'Ah...!'_ I heard Xion cry out again, but I wasn't sure what for.

_'What-?'_

Sora reached out, trying to grab her hand at the last minute.

_'No-...Roxas!'_ Xion's thoughts shouted, as soon as the two made contact. The contact only lasted for a moment or two, but as soon as they let go-when the portal disappeared-I knew something was wrong.

_'Xion...!'_

No response.

She was gone. She had gone when Axel and Kairi left, disappeared with the Dark Portal. I could tell...it...felt different. I think Sora would be able to tell, too, if he weren't thinking about Kairi. He fell to the ground, anger, sadness, frustration, and regret overcoming him. Some tears fell, and he punched the ground.

Then, at the same time that I thought it, and in the same words, Sora said, "I need to get her back, again.."

The fire had disappeared when Axel had, and Sora felt a hand on his shoulder. A light touch.

He looked up, eyes still frantic, finding himself looking at the calm, blue eyes of Naminé-the eyes that reminded him of Kairi.

"You'll find her," Naminé reassured. "It will be okay.."

I didn't know if Sora could tell, but I knew-her eyes didn't show as much sadness as her voice portrayed.

* * *

_((Woot. Another chapter done, short as per usual =.=_

_Well it felt short..._

_Um but look you also get bonus! And the chapter was fairly, interesting, I think, hopefully...))_

* * *

•**Naminé**•

It was impossible not to admit-I felt jealous when I watched Sora and Kairi together. Why couldn't Sora care about me that much? Why couldn't anyone?

I'd never been more glad to see Axel. And when he took Kairi away, I'd never felt more grateful toward him.

I just wish she could stay away.

* * *

•**Axel**•

I couldn't believe it. I just...I didn't want to.

So the Organization had finally found out my intentions of helping Sora...and their reaction? I'd help them kidnap Kairi, or be turned into a Dusk.

Well, not having much care for her, I agreed to it. It seemed like a fairly good deal...or at least, I thought that at first.

I teleported to Destiny Islands, and was fairly surprised to see them all in one place-well, somewhat. Sora and Kairi were staring at one another like love birds, and Naminé and Sora's other friends were some meters away, watching.

Well, Sora had actually looked in my direction as I walked out of the portal, thanks to one of his tattle-tale friends. Not like it'd make much of a difference, anyway.

I teleported closer to Sora and Kairi, making things easier for myself. "Kairi," I didn't hesitate to get her attention quickly-I wanted to get the job over with, to be honest. I could tell Roxas and Xion were watching, watching with Sora.. "You need to come with me."

"If you come back voluntarily, Saïx will let all this drop." Roxas's voice came back to me, when he had been speaking to Xion. Before I...forcefully brought her back to the Organization's castle.  
Why was it coming back, now?

"What...?" Kairi took a step back-not surprisingly. "Who are you?"

"My name's Axel," I responded. "Got it memorized? Now...I'd love to stay and chat, but that isn't exactly an option."

Love was impossible for a Nobody like me. But it was true that staying to chat-with Roxas and Xion-would have been more enjoyable than kidnapping.

"Wait.." the girl's eyes scanned me for a moment, before her fearful expression returned it's attention to my own face. "You...were you the one who told me Sora would come?"

I couldn't help but laugh a bit at this. "No, I wasn't." If Xemnas had a heart, he might've been amused as well-not that I had one, or anything, but.. "But I think I know who you're talking about-and he is the one who's the reason I had to come here and get you." I took a step toward her and she stepped back-Sora then stepped in front of her.

I sighed and shook my head. "Sora, Sora, Sora..." I recalled when Roxas had tried to protect Xion from me, so long ago now.

"STOP!" Roxas had shouted. I hadn't listened.

I scratched my head, feeling a bit guilty, now... "Almost like that time...huh..."

"What do you want!" Sora demanded to know.

"We need the princess," I said simply. "Or so the big man says...in any case..." I called forth my Chakrams, reveling in the feel that the burning metal gave me, even through the leather gloves I wore. "If you won't move, I'll have to take her by force."

This caused Sora to summon his Keyblade. The same Keyblade Xion and Roxas used... "What's your problem...!" Sora assumed a fighting stance. "Just a few days ago, you-"

"Well, well, well, Sora," I cut him off abruptly. I didn't want to hear it. Whatever I did, I was always betraying Isomeone/I. "Have you heard of something called..." I rushed forward, striking at Sora with my weapons. "...change!"

He blocked it, but I knew the attack wouldn't have done much, anyway. Not without full force. I attacked again, using the same held-back power as before. I angled my blow so that my Chakrams would trap his Keyblade; his weapon trapping mine.

"It's always around, Sora," my eyes felt like they about to water-but water and fire didn't play nicely. "Get it memorized." I knew I had.

My whole life had changed. Xion faded, Roxas lost his memory of her and regained it along with everyone else. Even my memory of her had faded, but never fully. And when we both remembered...Roxas had to fade, too.

I hated it all.

Letting my hate transform into flames, I forced the fire to envelope my Chakrams along with his Keyblade. He let go of his weapon quickly, before the flame touched his skin.

I then dismissed the flame and knocked Sora away. Dismissing my Chakrams then, I opened up a Dark Portal to teleport, I appeared behind Kairi, wrapping one arm around her. When she made a surprised yelp, I covered her mouth with my free hand.

I opened another Dark Portal just as Sora got up and raced forward, reaching for Kairi. Damn the fact that I couldn't close the portal yet-Kairi was struggling too much.

I noticed something flying toward me. Before bothering to identify the object, I cast a strong firaga and deflected it. Then I made a wall of flame surrounding Sora and me.

"Now your friends can't be a bother..." I told him, darkly. I pulled Kairi farther back, deeper into the Dark Portal.

Sora tried again, reaching out for her. They briefly made contact, but I pulled Kairi away, sharply, and-now fully inside the Corridor of Darkness-quickly closed the portal.

But something felt...different, about Kairi's presence. Her struggling grew weaker, allowing me to concentrate more on what exactly that difference was.

Then I realized it. Xion. Her presence seemed to be intertwined with Xion's, as Sora's had been before.

I finally let go suddenly, alarmed. "Xion.." the name slipped off my lips, only causing IKairi/I confusion.

"What-" she suddenly cut off. It was silent for a moment. Then another.

Finally, her voice sounded, again.

"Axel..." I knew it was Xion. Kairi-Xion turned, and began to run, but I grabbed her wrist before she could.

"You're not going anywhere, IXion/I," I told her. "Not in this...'princess's body."

"Quit calling me Xion," Kairi glared at me, but quit struggling against my grip. "That's not me."

I smirked. "You wish.."

Finally, we exited the Corridor of Darkness, straight into the Round Room.

* * *

___((Yep, that's correct-Xion is in Kairi's body now, not Sora's. Tricky tricky._

___Because of this drastic change...I think it's a good hiatus point._

___I will now try mainly working on Last Whispers, until I can get it caught up to Remembering XIV. I apologize if this displeases you...if it does, don't hesitate to bother me with messages. I'll then feel more inclined to get more work done, meaning I can get it caught up more quickly, and I'd like that, too!_

___I also have some AUs in progress, if you feel like reading some. But anyway...in case you're wondering, **Last Whispers** is just **Remembering XIV** from Xion's POV. The first chapters of it are her...reminiscing, I guess. But alone. Basically goes through some moments of Days, through her eyes. Then when Roxas finally gets there in Sora's mind, the storyline is all the same as this one. But you get to see the stuff that Xion sees and Roxas doesn't. Such as what happened in the nightmares..._

___That's why I really need to get it caught up~!_

___Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you liked it! :]))_


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